Progress can be a long road in the NBA. Sometimes, it’s tempting to try to plow through it as quickly as possible – but that’s not always the right way to go.
Perhaps progress isn’t a road. It may be more useful to think of it as a staircase. You can try to climb as many stairs as possible at once, but if you try to climb too many, you’re likely to stumble backward.
Trading for a superstar is great, but if you’re not in a position to contend after landing them, it can be problematic. Suddenly, you have a potentially unhappy superstar to deal with, and all of the assets you parted with to acquire him are gone.
The New York Knicks almost ran that risk this summer. Everyone knew they were in the running for Donovan Mitchell. Had they landed him, perhaps they could have kept him satisfied?
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Buddy Hield, Indiana Pacers & New York Knicks Updates
On the other hand, if they hadn’t, they’d have parted with a lot of draft capital just to find themselves with a problem.
Here’s a deal that has them taking a more incremental step this summer by trading for Buddy Hield of the Indiana Pacers.
