To the sadness of Stephen A. Smith and Spike Lee, we all know the New York Knicks are going to be bad next season. The only thing we don’t know is how disappointing they will make it.
To the surprise of myself (and probably every Knicks fan), the New York Knicks actually made it to the playoffs in the 2020/21 season. They even won a game against the Atlanta Hawks. Shocking, I know.
But, do you want to know what was even more shocking? The reactions of Knicks fan afterwards.
You would have thought the Knicks had won the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973 (yes, it has been that long) listening to New York fans go on and on about how ‘great this Knicks core is’, how ‘Julius Randle is a superstar’, or how ‘the Knicks will be in the Conference Finals next season’. It was just insufferable.
Thankfully, the Knicks and their fans came back down to Earth last season, finishing with a record of 37-45. Oh, and they missed the Play-In Round. Yes, the Knicks went from 4th in the East in 2020/21 to 11th in 2021/22. That’s the New York Knicks we all know and love!
Anyway, James Dolan and his floundering cronies in the front office have once again messed up another offseason, overpaying on former Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson by giving him a 4-year, $100M contract. Now, I’m not trying to insult Brunson because I think he is a good player.
And he was a great wingman for Luka Doncic in the Maverick’s backcourt and deserved to get a raise. But $25M/year on a guard who only averaged 16.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 4.8 APG is a little expensive. That is especially evident when looking at the new Atlanta Hawks guard, Dejounte Murray’s, stats.
In San Antonio last season, he put up 21.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 9.2 APG on a 4-year, $64M deal. The reason why I’m mentioning Murray is because the Knicks have also been heavily involved in trade talks for Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.
Due to the Rudy Gobert trade, the Jazz are reportedly asking for 6 1st-round picks for their superstar point guard. That is INSANE!
Though, what is even more insane is that the Knicks have the draft capital to pull off this deal, and (if the ESPN, FOX Sports, etc. reports are true) they are on the verge of doing it. Danny Ainge really is doing his best to destroy any potential KD trade.
Anyway, not only will the Knicks tie down valuable cap space on two guards who will not bring a title to New York, but they will also destroy years of hard work building up draft stock that can help rebuild the Knicks into East contenders again.
How does James Dolan and his staff think this trade is a good idea?
They could have just given up a role player and 3 1st-round picks for Murray instead of (potentially) giving up prospects and 6 1st-round picks for Mitchell. Also, I have to mention that Mitchell may have average 25.9 PPG last season (4.8 more than Murray), but he only had 4.2 RPG (4.1 less than Murray) and 6.3 APG (2.9 less than Murray).
In my opinion, Murray is the better all-round point guard than Mitchell and Brunson.
Still, it really doesn’t matter what I say, or what anyone else says to James Dolan. He will do what he wants to do with the Knicks. That is why they will acquire Donovan Mitchell for an astronomically high price, come into the season with self-imposed high expectation for the team, to only then imploded when the weight of said expectations sets in. (Standings Prediction: 8th; Out in Play In/1st Round)
That is just the cycle of the New York Knicks.
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