Knicks trade makes clear they are shooting for championship
Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanovic drives on Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma in the first half of an NBA game in Detroit on Jan. 27. Credit: AP/Paul Sancya
The Knicks are gunning for the big boys.
Over the past month, they took a good long look around the Eastern Conference and saw nothing but opportunity. The supposed best three teams — Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia — are all looking mortal. The Knicks, meanwhile, are one of the hottest teams in the NBA despite suffering injury after injury to players in their regular rotation.
So, just hours before the trade deadline Thursday Knicks president Leon Rose pulled off his second big deal of the season, picking up two veteran players that will provide his team with depth and offense — two things they badly need if they are going to make a run at the conference bigs.
The addition of Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Pistons for Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and two second-round picks is being heralded by some around the league as a sign that the Knicks have become a team to be reckoned with.
“I think they have a real shot of not just playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, but the NBA Finals!” Magic Johnson posted on X of the Knicks shortly after the trade was reported.
OK, Magic’s post was more than a little hyperbole-laden, but the Knicks are knocking on a suite that is labeled elite. Rose deserves a lot of credit for this trade, in which he was able to address a lot of their weaknesses without panicking and giving up any of their first-round picks.
The most important thing the deal does is strengthen and expand their rotation. The Knicks now have one of their most talented and deepest rosters in decades, which is incredibly important considering their current injury situation.
The team also announced on Thursday that OG Anunoby had undergone elbow surgery to remove bone fragments from his right elbow. That brings the total to three starters — Anunoby, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson — who are all being treated for injuries that will sideline them for significant periods.
When Jalen Brunson — the most significant piece to this whole puzzle — sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s game, it became more and more clear that the Knicks were going to have to find some reinforcements if they wanted to get through the regular season healthy enough to go deep in the playoffs.
Burks, who played two seasons previously for the Knicks and remains a favorite of coach Tom Thibodeau, is a combo guard who can handle backup duties off the bench, much like Immanuel Quickley once did. This ought to alleviate some of the pressure and its resulting wear and tear on Brunson.
The importance of this can’t be overexaggerated. While this team can survive and has survived the absence of Randle and — for now — Anunoby, it’s hard to see them making any kind of run if Brunson suffers a serious injury.
How many times have Knicks fans wanted to scream at Thibodeau through the television screen this season when he has all five starters on the floor in the fourth quarter when his team is up by 20 points?
What makes this Knicks team so compelling is its pedal-to-the-metal mentality. They are all in on playing hard every moment, doing whatever it takes to win. Yet, with Burks out there as a more than serviceable backup, it will be easier for Thibodeau to find periods in the game where he can rest Brunson.
What’s more, both Burks and Bogdanovic are capable scorers who can provide some instant offense, which the Knicks badly need with Randle and now Anunoby out.
Bogdanovic is a reliable outside shooter who has been averaging 20.2 points with a horrible Pistons team. Burks averaged 12.7 points in his year and a half with the Pistons, which is slightly more than the 12.1 he averaged with the Knicks.
“I like the makeup of our team,” Thibodeau said of the trade.
Heading into the season, the ceiling on this Knicks team seemed to be fourth place. Heading into Thursday night’s game against Dallas, the Knicks and the Bucks were tied for third place just a game behind second-place Cleveland, the other big surprise in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks are 15 games over .500 and we haven’t even reached the All-Star Game. Only once in the last 20 years, when the Knicks went 54-28 in 2012-2013, have they finished a season further above .500.
The Knicks have shown they are going for it by pulling off this trade. They may still be a superstar away from being legitimate contenders, but they have to be a team that scares a lot of people.
When was the last time Knicks fans could say that?
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
