What Could Leon Rose Be Thinking?

While we wait to see whether the Dallas Mavericks grant the New York Knicks permission to "speak" with Jason Kidd concerning their head coaching vacancy, and whether, if it's granted, the two teams can agree on compensation, another even bigger story has emerged that, if true, threatens to undermine everything this organization has built up over the last three seasons.

As you're probably aware by now, it was recently revealed that the Knicks attempted to acquire Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline last March. Obviously, the deal never went through, but according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Knicks are still in the market for KD's services, along with several other teams, it should be pointed out.

The Suns have been a huge disappointment over the last two years, and this season failed to make the playoffs. Going into the 2025-26 season, they are $11 million over the second apron with only ten players signed. To put that in perspective, the Knicks are $8 million under the second apron with eleven players signed. What that means is that the Suns are in what is commonly referred to as cap hell with a bad team that will be severely restricted from making improvements to the roster. This is unsustainable.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room, however, is Durant's contract, which is an astonishing $54.7 million. Any team looking to add him to their roster would have to send an equal dollar amount the other way. There's only one player on the Knicks who fits that bill, and that's Karl-Anthony Towns. The 7-0 center, who Leon Rose traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for last September, is due to earn $53.1 million next season. Ideally, the Suns would like to get more than just one player in exchange for KD, but that would mean the Knicks would have to package two players in the deal, further shortening an already short bench.

Let me just go on record right now as saying that this trade, if it were pulled off, would be one of the worst in franchise history. As talented as KD is, he does not get the Knicks any closer to an NBA championship; indeed, he could move them further away from it. Let me explain.

For starters, Towns has gotten a lot of criticism for the way he performed in this year's playoffs, almost all of it undeserved. True, there were a few games in which he was a non-factor. But overall, he was a net positive for this team. In the Pacers series, he practically owned his counterpart, Myles Turner, the only Knick that can say that, by the way.

During the regular season, KAT averaged 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists per game, while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 42 percent from three. The only center in the NBA with a better slash line was Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. You don't trade players like that; you surround them with complimentary talent, which is what Rose should be doing.

If the Knicks were to trade KAT, they would have a gaping hole at the five spot that would have to be filled by Mitchell Robinson, who has a history of getting injured, and Ariel Hukporti, who is, as yet, still an unproven player. And in return, they would get an aging forward who has, at most, maybe another two seasons left in the tank before he calls it a career.

What could Rose be thinking even entertaining such a deal? This has James Dolan written all over it. I was willing to give the Knicks owner the benefit of the doubt over the Thibodeau firing, but if the Knicks are actually stupid enough to pull the trigger on this trade, then this will be yet another example of him screwing up this franchise, just like he did with the Rangers four years ago when he fired John Davidson and Jeff Gordon because he was unhappy with the pace of the rebuild. The man thinks he knows something about sports. The fact is had it not been for his father Charles, old Jimbo wouldn't be a flee on a donkey's ass.

Let's hope sanity prevails and Rose directs his attention to where it belongs: hiring a coach that can take this team to the next level, and fortifying a depleted bench so that his best players don't look like rag dolls by the fourth quarter. Regarding the latter, the Utah Jazz have let it be known that they are fielding offers for Walker Kessler. Deuce McBride, Hukporti and the 2026 and 2032 first round picks might be enough to get it done. I'd much rather have Kessler backing up KAT than either Hukporti or Mitch, wouldn't you? And with the savings from Robinson's contract, whom I assume they wouldn't need anymore, the Knicks could find a way to bring back DiVincenzo, thus reuniting the Nova Four.

That makes a helluva lot more sense than trading for a fading star, doesn't it?

Introducing the Nova Knicks

Well, Leon Rose finally made his big move. On the eve of the NBA Draft, he sent five first round picks - four of them unprotected - a second round pick and Bojan Bogdanovic to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges. The trade many people - myself included - speculated might happen, has finally become a reality. Turns out dogs and cats do sleep together.

Bridges joins fellow Villanova Wildcat alums Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo in what promises to be a very dynamic and diversified offense. Head coach Tom Thibodeau loves players that can play multiple positions and that can rotate in and out of the starting lineup. With Bridges and Hart, he has two players that can play the 2 or the 3. That means both players can be on the court along with Brunson. It also gives the Knicks four exceptionally strong wing men that can score and defend.

Forget the draft picks. The Knicks had eleven first rounders before the trade; now they have six. What was Rose supposed to do with them, hang them on his office wall and stare at them? The idea that there was some mythical trade out there that he was supposed to wait for is nice, but ultimately unsubstantiated. For all we know, this was the best deal he was going to get, and even that wouldn't have gotten done had Bridges not made it clear to the Nets that he wanted out of Brooklyn and his preference was the Knicks. The Monday-morning quarterback contingent needs to cool their jets.

The real problem for Rose isn't draft capital, it's cap space. Because of the way this trade went down, the Knicks had only $50 million left in hard cap space with which to compete their roster. With the addition of Bridges, they had just 10 players under contract for the 2024-25 season. The NBA minimum is 14. OG Anunoby, Isaiah Hartenstein and Precious Achiuwa were among those who still were unsigned, and all three had played pivotal roles in this team's success last season.

Well, strike one free agent off the list. Earlier today, the Knicks re-signed Anunoby to a 5-year, $212.5 million deal. While the average annual value is $42.5 million, the way the contract is structured, the cap hit for year one is only $36.7 million.

The significance of this signing cannot be overstated. Anunoby, who opted out of the last year of his contract, could easily have signed a max deal with another team. There was talk that the Philadelphia 76ers were very much interested in acquiring his services. Daryl Morey would've liked nothing better than to snatch him away from New York. You could just see the headlines in the Philly press.

Losing OG to the Sixers would've been devastating for this organization. It would've meant that the Knicks basically gave up RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for what amounted to a rental. Now that won't happen. A crucial piece of this team has been locked up for the next five years. And if Rose can get creative over the next few days, he might be able to pull another rabbit or two out of his hat. 

Because New York owns the early-bird rights to Hartenstein, the most they can offer him is a four-year contract at $72.5 million. That comes out to an average of $18 million per year. A team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, who desperately need a physical center, could easily offer him five years at $25 million per. But like Anunoby, maybe I-Hart takes less to remain with the Knicks. Who knows? Perhaps the luster of chasing a championship is worth more to him than a few extra million bucks. Moving Mitchell Robinson would give the Knicks the cap space they need to get this done.

Yes, Leon Rose had himself a good day yesterday, and an even better one today. He not only landed his number one offseason target, he held on to one of his best players. But his work isn't done. In fact, you could say it's just beginning.

A Bridges Too Far?

While we still don't know the full extent of Julius Randle's right shoulder injury, it does appear as if the New York Knicks may have dodged a bullet. Preliminary test results do not show a tear, which would require season-ending surgery for the all-star forward. That means Randle will likely miss several weeks instead of months.

And while Knicks fans were breathing a collective sigh of relief over the encouraging news, Randle's teammates were taking care of business in Charlotte, beating the Hornets 113-92. The Knicks are now 13-2 in the month of January. The trade that sent RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second round pick to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn has transformed the Knicks into a force to be reckoned with. Not only have they feasted on teams with losing records - 20-0 after last night's win - they have beaten the likes of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, last season's NBA champion Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. It should be noted that the Denver win was a blowout.

In my last piece, I wrote that the Knicks, as good as they are, still need a third option; that one player that could catapult them from competitor status to contender status. Initially, I thought Dejounte Murray might be that player. The Atlanta Hawk would give New York its most talented backcourt since 1972-73, the last year they won a championship. However, it appears as though Leon Rose doesn't want to give up the assets needed to land the shooting guard.

Names like Malcolm Brogdon and Bruce Brown have been tossed around as possible trade targets. Both players would bolster a bench that had been depleted in the Toronto deal, but neither would move the needle much. With the trade deadline only a few days away, and Rose sitting on eleven first round draft picks, seven of which belong to him, it's beginning to look more and more like if a trade does happen it will take place in the offseason.

Then, as if on cue, a proposed trade popped up on social media that was so wild I had to do a double take when I saw it. The Brooklyn Nets send Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier and five first round draft picks.

Let's put aside for the moment the total number of draft picks going to the Nets, which is considerable, given that Rose was reluctant to give up two number ones to Atlanta for Murray. And let's also put aside the fact that Bridges was part of that Villanova Wildcats team that won the NCAA championship in 2018 along with Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo, both of whom are Knicks. The fact is Bridges has been a small forward most of his NBA career, except for a small stint last season after the Nets acquired him in the Kevin Durant trade. There's no telling how he would handle the move back to guard. 

Then there's DiVencenzo. He was just starting to come into his own as a starter. The arrival of Bridges would relegate him to the bench. How would that affect him? Further, how would that affect the team as a whole? A team that is about as tight and cohesive as any Knicks team I've seen since the Pat Riley days. We've already seen how adding a star onto a roster can have unintended consequences. The Heat are 0-4 since they traded for Terry Rozier.

Look, there's no denying the talent Bridges would bring to the Knicks. And with Randle returning sometime in March, they could be the prohibitive favorites to win the Eastern Conference, perhaps the whole enchilada. One thing is certain: with Tom Thibodeau coaching them, regardless of what happens at the deadline, this will be one tough team to play against in the postseason.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Like most proposed trades, they tend to fizzle out within a day or two. I seriously doubt Rose will part with that many first round picks, even for someone as gifted as Bridges. But it's always nice to dream, especially for a fanbase that's gotten used to having nightmares the better part of the last two decades.