With all of their own first-round picks and swaps, plus some additional draft capital, the Knicks have been linked to multiple stars over the past year-plus, including Joel Embiid. The reigning MVP’s former Sixers teammate, P.J. Tucker, says Embiid is well aware of the rumors, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
“Of course, he hears it,” Tucker said Monday. “But you never know with these situations and how it’s going to play out, what guys are thinking, what’s happening behind closed doors. You never know.”
As Bondy notes, Embiid would have to request a trade for there to even be a remote chance of him landing in New York, and with the 76ers off to a 6-1 start, there’s certainly no indication that’s in the cards anytime soon. Tucker says any outside perception of dysfunction in Philadelphia is misguided.
“It wasn’t like that all,” he said. “The media is going to spin it how you want. But Philly has got a good team. We had a good team. … I think all the noise was just that: just noise.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- RJ Barrett has played well in each of the past two games since returning from a left knee injury, which the team has called patellar tendinopathy. As Ian Begley of SNY.tv writes, Barrett says he’s going to have to play through some soreness “for a little bit,” with the injury a result of wear and tear rather than a specific incident. “I’m going to have to live with the pain,” Barrett said. “Got to be mentally tough, fight through it.”
- Center Mitchell Robinson is averaging a career-best 12.4 rebounds through eight games, drawing praise from head coach Tom Thibodeau in the process. “I think the big thing is it’s not just the offense. He’s added the defensive rebounding, he’s been a monster on the boards,” Thibodeau said, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. “I think he’s the best offensive rebounder, we already established that. And then now he’s fourth in the league in rebounding. Every night he’s got bodies on him and he’s done a great job for us.”
- Robinson’s incredible offensive rebounding prowess and improved “discipline and physicality” on defense are among the early-season storylines explored by Fred Katz of The Athletic, with Barrett also earning a spot due to his evolution as a decision-maker. Robinson’s defensive effort on Victor Wembanyama during Wednesday’s dismantling of the Spurs was particularly noteworthy, writes Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link).
Look if the Knicks came at the Sixers and said well give you everything. Picks and Swaps. Here’s Quickley, RJ, and Fournier. Sixers would probably do it. Anything less than that, what’s the point?
That’s not enough, especially for a team that’s in first in the East, that’s currently 6-1 and looks like they are world beaters. It would be the dumbest move ever made by a team that over the last decade has made a lot of very dumb moves.
Rights to 11 First Round Picks via trade/swap and 23 overall picks. Hard to pass that up. I said everything lol.
@philly like I said below, of those 11x…3x are unlikely to move due to protection. Then that leaves 9 picks that if Kicks are contenders 8x might as well be 2nd rounders and another from Bucks 25 that’ll be the same.
It’s not a good offer. Randle has negative value, RJ isn’t worth a tonne, so again they’ll easily get out bid. If I’m Philly I hang up and take calls from at least 5+ teams that can out bid.
Right, bc the Knicks pick in the late 1st every year. Or they have maybe a handful of times in the last 23 years.
Embiids window is 2-4 years. Injuries and age. Plus it’s the Knicks. They’d mess it up.
Why would Philly do that? Because all those NYK owned first will be at the end of the round. I would imagine they could do better. You saw how Herro’s contract and production made him a bad fit for Portland. Not sure why Philly would want a few dudes that couldn’t make the Knicks any good as centerpieces of a deal.
If Embiid becomes available, unlikely if 76ers are still performing. I doubt Knicks get it over the line. Their own picks would be late and all their other picks are heavily protected. Joining that with the players they have, there are just too many teams that can offer a lot more.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Presti finally offloads their assets. An offer like one or two of, Giddey/williams/chet and A LOT of picks would be unmatchable if they want rebuild. If they don’t, they can easily get an AllNBA player and maybe an all star through multi team trade.
Don’t forget the guy is reigning MVP. Would people be shocked if C’s made a trade of Brown and KP if things don’t go well next season? I doubt it if it keeps JT. Again Knicks just don’t have enough to get him unless he pushes for NY.
As an Embiid hater I like how he and skiers are playing so far. But it’s a long season and I wish them no luck!
Knicks only trade Avenue is DeRozan. But is he the right fit. If Barrett can take a leap this year that would help more.
I wouldn’t trade RJ for DD straight up. RJ has turned the corner.
Leon Rose getting his flunkies in the NBA media to stir up drama about his franchise landing Embiid, lol. Knicks have been doing this for a long time though, and nobody ever comes.
Idk what their plan is, but they have next to zero shot of landing Embiid in the near future. Their picks won’t be valuable if he goes there and they don’t have the right type of young prospects to deal. Outside of that, Embiid really doesn’t want to leave Philly since it’s basically the longest time he’s been settled down in one place since he’s came to this country. On top of that, the Sixers are more of a niche fanbase compared to the Eagles, so the pressure isn’t that bad compared to other NBA markets.
It’s very early, but one great thing about Mitchell Robinson is that he’s cut down on his fouls. Lowest PF/game of his career despite playing a career high in minutes per game. If he can keep that up, he’ll play more minutes and have higher rebounding numbers.
On the flip side, he’s shown zero improvement in his free throws, which makes it very difficult to play him down the stretch in any games. Even 65% would be a massive improvement.