Thanks for the replies everyone I guess I'm probably just off in my evaluation but respectfully to those saying that the Knicks would consider including Ntilikina and/or Knox I still just don't see it.
IMO The most logical way to look at it is that if the Knicks keep their young assets off the table, then there is no deal to be made. I just figured Mudiay and a protected pick was better than losing Kyrie for free but from an optics standpoint its probably not enough to make management move forward with the trade.
You can't get a superstar player by trading nothing, even if he is on the last year of his deal. Mudiay has zero value (as exhibited by the fact that Denver got a 2nd round pick for him). Hardaway, Kanter, and Noah have negative value on their contracts. Lee has negligible value.
Other than first rounders, which are likely to be late lottery picks for the forseeable future, Knox and Frankie are the only assets they have on that team. They would have to give up one, and they'd be happy to do it.
Knox's summer league was overblown with talk of the 2019 version of Jayson Tatum (some commentators saying he was a more athletic version of him *rolls eyes*). He had one stretch where he got unusustainably hot from 3, but when he faced NBA defenders, he was forgettable. He is not the new Devin Booker. His lateral foot speed is not good and his quickness will seriously hamper his scoring upside. At best, he is Wilson Chandler or Marcus Morris.
The Knicks took all of a few months to decide Frankie didn't have the offensive ability to run the point. Even though they were a lottery team, they still didn't think highly enough of his scoring ability to give him the reps to develop, which probably means they think he is more off an off-ball player/defensive specialist. I like his game and think he has potential, but I've seen enough question marks to doubt that he can be a primary offensive player on a playoff team.
It's not like either player has that much value. Both players are intriguing prospects, but these guys are probably not future all-stars.
Well maybe Porzingas comes over
Perhaps. In a vacuum that would be cool, although I have question marks about Zinger.
The problem is if the Knicks do that, the actually have less financial flexibility to get another big name guy. They'd have about 16 million in cap space if they renounce all their other free agents. They'd probably need to send out at least the value of at least 3 first round picks, which could be some combination of picks and their young prospects. If they did that, they would likely have about 58 million in cap space, which isn't enough to offer two max contracts.
That would mean they'd have:
two of Knox, Frankie, and Robinson
Baker
Irving
Max contract
21 million dollar contract
Vet min guys
That's just not a good team, and there's not guarantee anyone joins Kyrie.
In other words, the Knicks would want to keep Zinger in a trade for big name as a way to lure another big name in free agency.
Topic: Speculation: Emmanuel Mudiay as the target of a Kyrie Trade (Read 5077 times)