The New York Knicks are a team primed to make a splash during the 2024 NBA offseason. They are flush with assets to swing a blockbuster trade should the opportunity present itself. This is what President Leon Rose has been biding his time for, as the team is in a great position.
New York is loaded with draft capital, as they have all of their first-round picks and extra ones from the Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks. Their salary cap situation is as clean as anyone’s in the NBA as they have several tradeable contracts and no bad ones on the books.
Rose isn’t going to make a trade just to make a deal. He wants to find the player that fits in with what they have been building over the last few years. This is a franchise on the cusp of being contenders in the Eastern Conference if they aren’t already.
One of the players who they could look to target this offseason is Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is a road the team has gone down before, as they engaged with the Utah Jazz in trade talks during the 2022 offseason to see Mitchell sent to the Cavaliers.
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Donovan Mitchell, Julius Randle, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks Updates
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has suggested the Knicks as a potential landing spot should Cleveland look to deal him this offseason. There are a lot of ties between the two sides, as Mitchell grew up in New York as a Knicks fan and is represented by CAA. Many NBA analysts believe this is where Mitchell wanted to be in 2022 and still would like to end up.
“If the Knicks re-sign OG Anunoby and keep Jalen Brunson, a trade for Mitchell would probably be built around players like Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and/or Bojan Bogdanović (who has only $2 million of his $19 million salary guaranteed). They could also include Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, Miles McBride, Jericho Sims (minimum), Mamadi Diakite (minimum), DaQuan Jeffries (minimum, team option) for salary-matching purposes,” Pincus wrote.
Trading Julius Randle should be a non-starter for the Knicks, as he has been an integral part of their success when healthy. Swapping him out for Mitchell can be seen as a downgrade given the humongous hole that would be created in the frontcourt.
With the Knicks’ most tradable assets being frontcourt players, a third team may have to get involved in the deal. The Cavaliers, who have Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in their frontcourt, likely have no use for Randle or Mitchell Robinson. Bojan Bogdanovic’s partially guaranteed deal could be a very strong trade asset this season to help facilitate a deal as well.
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