Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are the most valuable trade assets the Knicks possess as they try to finish the job of building a championship roster, according to Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Winfield ranks the potential value of everything New York has to work with this summer, starting with Brunson and going down to Boston’s top-45 protected second-round pick in 2028. Team president Leon Rose has limited draft capital remaining after last year’s trades for Towns and Mikal Bridges, so most of the coveted assets would be players.
It seems unthinkable that the Knicks would part with Brunson, their captain, especially after he accepted a team-friendly extension that could keep him under contract through the 2028/29 season. They may be more willing to move on from Towns, whose contract becomes more burdensome until he reaches a $61MM player option in 2027/28. Towns’ defensive shortcomings can make it challenging to have him and Brunson on the floor together, which Indiana exploited in the conference finals.
Bridges, New York’s 2032 first-round pick and OG Anunoby round out Winfield’s top five. The Knicks face a looming decision on Bridges, who is entering the final year of his contract and will be eligible for an offseason extension potentially worth $156MM over four years. Anunoby, the second-highest-paid player on the team, is signed for three more seasons and holds a $48.4MM player option for 2028/29.
There’s more on the Knicks:
- The team’s next head coach will be walking into an extremely high-pressure situation, as reaching the conference finals wasn’t enough to save Tom Thibodeau‘s job, notes Steve Popper of Newsday. He points out that the Knicks have been mentioned as serious suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant, so the new coach will have to adjust his preferred style if one of those stars is in New York. Popper cautions that the team may have to aim smaller and states that avoiding the second apron figures to be an offseason priority. The Knicks are currently $8MM under that threshold, but can expand that by $3.5MM by declining their team option on P.J. Tucker. They could save another $2MM by also declining their option on Ariel Hukporti, but he may be too valuable at that price to let go.
- Thibodeau deserved another season as head coach to hone the Brunson-Towns combination and figure out ways to improve the defense, contends Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Washburn argues that Thibodeau took the fall for management’s mistakes, including giving up five first-round picks for Bridges and parting with two valuable pieces from last year’s team to bring in Towns.
- Josh Hart, who played for Jay Wright at Villanova, fully supports Wright’s decision to not pursue the Knicks’ coaching vacancy. “Man Thank You. Stay retired!” Hart tweeted.
“Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are the most valuable trade assets the Knicks possess as they try to finish the job of building a championship roster,”
Real geniuses over at the Daily News. The Knicks’s two best players are their most valuable trade assets. No kidding.
Yet a real genius like you to tell the rest of us! Thank you for always being on the case.
Swing and a miss, buddy.
“Towns’ defensive shortcomings can make it challenging to have him and Brunson on the floor together, which Indiana exploited in the conference finals.”
There is a lot of truth to this. Towns actually was better defensively here than in Minny. As hard as that is to believe. Remember how I said many times here. To start Achiuwa next to Towns. And sit Hart make him sixth man. Two birds with one stone. Actually three. Hart strengthens bench. And Bridges gets more looks. Hart can still play more mins. All you needed from Achiuwa is 20 mins, solid D, rebounding.
No one listens to me ????
This is not going away with a new coach. Achiuwa is a FA. The Knicks desperately need a shooter off the bench. The best move to deal with this. You can use Mitch in a trade. Find a defensive stud at the 4 to start with Towns. Hukporti can take the backup C role. He is not Mitch yet. But he shows signs he can be. I believe in him. Using a Mitch trade and a sign n trade with Achiuwa. Can get this team in a better place. Moving Hart to bench is also a big plus. We need that energy off the bench. Hart can still play 30 mins. I’m a big Bridges guy. He had a solid year his first year here. No doubt he has to be better offensively. I can give him another year. Bringing Hart to bench will help him there.
Imo Thibs took the fall for Knicks failings. He is owed 30 mill. Towns is owed 165 mill. No coach is worth more than a star today.
Michael Malone please ……. Just sign the man.
No one listens to you Knick?!!! After all these years on Trade Rumors, I’m positively flabbergasted that they haven’t made you GM. You should send Dolan a Trade Rumors subscription as a gift. I guarantee you that within six months, he’ll name you GM. But when you make it to the big time, don’t forget who it was that got ya there with his brilliant idea. Just make me your assistant GM, and we’ll be square and NBA Champs in no time.
lol Washburn. Knicks didn’t give up two valuable pieces. Randle is worse on defense than Towns, and undersized, get rejected all the time. Donte was horrible this year. The best part is the 17th pick Wolves got, not any of the 3 players.
You’d think with the ever improving AI, Achiuwa would never be mentioned at all because he’s trash.
If NYK trade KAT… they will be done, their window firmly closed… unless they get a Giannis, Jokic or Sabonis in return!
Package Towns, McBride, and their 2032 1st rounder for Luka Doncic.
Bridges wasn’t a mistake. Can’t understand why that narrative continues to come up when they were two games from going to the finals. This is the farthest they’ve gone in 25 years and he had something to do with it. His defensive stops in Boston at the end of the game in game 1 and 2, or shutting down Haliburton for some time in the ECF can’t go unnoticed. His minutes and ability to stay in the court all year have been extremely valuable.
The team needs two things to advance. A coach who knows how to use a bench and a forward who can score off the bench. A KAT for Giannis would be ideal, but doubt that gets done. But with Boston hurting next year, it’s another obstacle out of the way.
Stay the course.
Also, people keep forgetting that they traded 5 picks for Mikal Bridges’ contract, I.e., his production at his agreed upon salary. He was such a valuable trade asset because he is a two way player who plays every day for $24.9 million.
People say he was a “mistake” is because of what he cost the Knicks in the future. It’s way too soon to grade this trade.
The Knicks need to turn KAT into decent rotation pieces…
Whether Thibs should have been fired or not, it wasn’t him taking the blame for management’s mistakes.
Sure they stupidly gave up firsts for Bridges, but that doesn’t affect the current day Knicks on court roster. As for giving up two valuable pieces for KAT, losing Donte hurt a bit, but Randle was unplayable in the WCF. How would he have helped the Knicks go any further than they did in the playoffs?
OKC is showing what you can do with high defensive players with limited upside on offense. When Lu Dort hits 3’s they blow teams out. When he doesn’t they win/barely lose. Same with Cason, Caruso, Jalen.
Too bad the team can’t trade Dolan.