The New York Knicks hold the No. 9 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft next month, which isn’t as high as they’d like to be picking, but in a draft that goes about nine players deep with talent that experts expect to be legitimate impact players at the next level, it could be worse.
New York has lots of needs, and can genuinely go for the best player available at that spot, given the only player on the roster that seems all but assured of his position in the future is Kristaps Porzingis. In the backcourt, there’s still hope last year’s first round pick Frank Ntilikina can become a starting caliber player, although they seem to think he’s more of a two-guard than a point at this juncture. Tim Hardaway Jr. has a big contract with three years left, but his presence shouldn’t prevent them from going after a wing if available.
All that said, New York finds itself apparently enamored with taking a point guard in this draft. Throughout the process, many mock drafts have projected the Knicks to be the landing spot for Alabama point guard Collin Sexton, but New York is hopeful that they can land one of the most dynamic (and polarizing) players in the draft.
According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the consensus around the league is that the Knicks “have the hots” for Oklahoma point guard Trae Young.
Multiple league sources told me that the Knicks have the hots for the Oklahoma point guard, so the interest is mutual. It’s easy to understand why: Young is an ideal fit alongside Frank Ntilikina, whom the Knicks view as a 2-guard who can occasionally run the offense. Ntilikina could space the floor to allow Young to work his magic on the ball; conversely, Young could race through screens off the ball to get open for 3s while Ntilikina initiates the offense. It’d be a perfect pairing to ease the workload on Kristaps Porzingis.
First, I love the use of “have the hots” here, rather than just saying they really want him. No, the Knicks are lusting after Trae Young, who apparently feels the same way about New York, as his father told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that Young “lives” for the spotlight like he’d get in New York.
O’Connor cites Ntilikina’s defensive chops as being perfect to complement the defensively limited Young, while Trae’s explosiveness offensively could work well next to the more passive Ntilikina. Young is certainly not shy to shoot the ball as we saw in the highs and lows at Oklahoma, and he would certainly be quick to become a fan favorite in New York every time he got hot. The question for Young is whether he can be efficient enough with that shot to stay on the floor, given his defensive limitations. With Hardaway Jr. there already hoisting ill-advised shots fairly regularly for New York, that dynamic would be fascinating to watch, especially once Porzingis (who should be, by far, the most used player on offense for the Knicks) returns from his ACL injury.
The other issue facing the Knicks is that there are a few other possible landing spots for Young ahead of them, most notably in Orlando and Cleveland at picks No. 6 and 8. Whether the Knicks are so infatuated with the Oklahoma star they’d be willing to package something together to try and move up remains to be seen, but if Young is still there at No. 9, don’t expect him to make it any farther.
