The New York Knicks have emerged as a potential landing spot for disgruntled New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis. According to a report, Davis has the Knicks as one of his two preferred destinations in a trade, and while they did not land the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, executives in New York have made it clear they’re star hunting this summer.
The question does remain if making a move in the trade market or waiting for free agency is the right move for the Knicks, but if they want to get in on the Davis sweepstakes, they could potentially piece together a deal featuring young players and draft picks. But as Ian Begley of SNY laid out, there might be some hesitation regarding gutting the war chest of assets for one player.
Why? It turns out the Carmelo Anthony trade in 2011 may give some in the organization some cold feet.
On the Davis front, some Knicks decision-makers have been adamant about not giving up a ton of significant assets — young players or draft picks — in a Davis trade, per SNY sources. Some in the organization are wary, citing the way things played out for New York in the wake of the Carmelo Anthony trade, per sources.
That deal saw the Knicks trading a myriad of players and picks to Denver and Minnesota to facilitate a deal that landed them Anthony. There’s always a bit of revisionist history about Anthony’s basketball career with how the last few years have gone down, but while the Knicks never won a championship and didn’t have much postseason success with Melo in town, he was a very productive player for them. Part of the issue was the struggle the front office at the time had to build a team around their star player.
New York has a new front office, though, one that has been vocal about their belief that they can build a championship contender. There are plenty of lessons from the Anthony trade and his subsequent time with the team that the Knicks can use, but it is a bit odd that some believe the biggest lesson should be “don’t go all-in to get a superstar.”
