Best Potential 2016-17 NBA Trade Deadline Targets for New York Knicks

Only five games separate the 10th-place New York Knicks from the third-place Boston Celtics in the slippery Eastern Conference as of Jan. 7. But if the Knicks want to sink their claws into a playoff berth, they may need to trade for a player who will sharpen their 25th-ranked defense.

The rosters of some Western contenders have embarrassments of riches defensively and rags on the other end.

They might be the likeliest trade partners.

As usual at this time of year, you'll hear many names get tossed around—the Atlanta Hawks are dangling Paul Millsap, per ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein, the Brooklyn Nets are shopping Brook Lopez (as always), per Stein, and the Chicago Bulls are even shopping Jimmy Butler, according to Bleacher Report's own Ric Bucher.

But before you get too excited, the Nets reportedly want two first-round picks for Lopez, which the Knicks are unlikely to give up since they have waited years to recover from the previous management's wanton selling of draft picks. The Knicks would be hard-pressed to accommodate the high salaries of Butler ($17 million this season) and Millsap ($20 million) without shedding a lot of their current roster.

You don't get to that number by bundling Sasha Vujacic, Maurice Ndour and Marshall Plumlee, either. Butler's contract rivals Joakim Noah's; Millsap's is close to Derrick Rose's.

So here are some players the Knicks might be likelier to give and receive.

What to Give

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New York's most valuable midseason trade asset is Brandon Jennings.

As any playoff-bound team knows, an extra point guard in your back pocket can be an insurance policy between a championship and a quick trip home. An electric playmaker like Jennings with an expiring $5 million contract is almost too good to be true, especially for a club that's desperate for offense.

Losing Jennings would be a bitter pill to swallow for the Knickerbockers, but more showings like Ron Baker's gorgeous fourth quarter in the exhilarating 116-111 comeback win over the Milwaukee Bucks Friday would help it go down more easily.

Alternately, a team ready to pack it in for the season and look to the future could be ready to let go of its more exciting expiring contracts in exchange for some young talents such as Mindaugas Kuzminskas or Willy Hernangomez. Kuzminskas is a threat to sink any kind of bucket from any place on the court, and he brings unexpected toughness with his slight frame. Hernangomez's unique post maneuvers keep defenders guessing—usually incorrectly. 

Not exactly the types of thoughts that make a Knicks fan's mouth water, but remember that trades are hard, especially midseason. Here are some realistic options to boost the defense this season.

Tony Allen

The Memphis Grizzlies are 23-16, sixth in the Western Conference. The men of The Grindhouse are sustaining their legendary defensive prowess (third in opponents' points per game), but the perennial also-rans are sadly maintaining their offensive ineptitude despite shooting more from outside (25th in points per game). 

The Grizz also have to contend with the problematic body of their starting point guard, Mike Conley, who's already missed games because of Achilles, hamstring, quad, back and toe injuries. They could rest easier with Jennings on their bench.

The Knicks defense, meanwhile, could use a jolt from the man who, as NBC Sports' Dan Feldman put it, "helped establish and maintain Memphis' 'Grit and Grind' culture."

Veteran swingman Tony Allen is on an expiring contract, and although he's part of the starting five, rumors surfaced last month that the team was gauging interest in trades for him, per Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal. 

This season, Allen's individual pressure defense is credited with holding opposing shooters to 3.8 percent below their regular field-goal percentages overall and a punishing 5.3 percent below from three-point range. He's also picking pockets all over the court, averaging 1.8 steals per game. 

Although not traditionally a contributor on the other end of the floor, he's putting up 10.2 points per game on 48.2 percent shooting and 5.5 rebounds.

Depending upon how experimental the Knicks want to be, they could use Allen as a starter—possibly moving Kristaps Porzingis to the center position and Carmelo Anthony to the 4 spot, with Allen at the 3. However, his versatility would make him a huge asset coming off the bench, playing either the 2 or 3 alongside (or in place of) young defenders like Justin Holiday, backing up both Courtney Lee and Anthony or stepping in as a stronger option than Lance Thomas.  

Dante Exum

The Utah Jazz are, in some ways, a younger version of the Grizzlies, with an identical record (23-16) and almost identical problems—No. 1 in defense, No. 28 in offense. 

Sophomore point guard Dante Exum may be part of their future, and he's come in handy while starter George Hill has struggled with injury (although Exum himself has missed several games this season). But the fact remains that the Jazz are a team that plays a reasonably quick pace and shoots well but that doesn't score nearly enough because it just doesn't shoot enough.

If there's anything Jennings can do, it's get a team to shoot. He's the offensive creator that Exum is not—5.1 assists to Exum's 1.7.

Exum, meanwhile, is a scrambling defender who puts pressure on perimeter shooters and gets in the way of pick-and-roll ball-handlers dashing into the paint. Those are skills the Knicks desperately need.

He holds opponents' shooters to 4.2 percent below their average field-goal percentages overall and 2.4 percent percent below their averages from three-point range. Although it's only his second year in the league, he's a top-50 defensive guard.

Seth Curry or Andrew Bogut

At 11-25 and 14th in the West, the Dallas Mavericks are in shambles and must be thinking of tearing it all down. If so, the Knicks should coax them to let go of Seth Curry, who could help the Knicks shore up the weak perimeter defense that allowed the Houston Rockets and others to eviscerate them on various nightmarish occasions.

Curry was known first as a sharpshooting 2-guard who had to earn his minutes with Rick Carlisle by proving he could defend, too. Well, he's proved it.

Despite the Mavs' dismal season, Curry's holding opponents to 3.6 percent below their average field-goal percentages overall and 2.5 percent below their averages from three-point range. He's also averaging 1.2 steals per game, including some pretty thievery that led to a backward alley-oop to Dorian Finney-Smith on Dec. 18 (above). 

Plus, he hasn't lost his stroke, averaging 10.5 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting and 39.4 percent accuracy from long range. 

In return for Curry, the Mavs may be in the market for another big man, as it seems unlikely that they'll be continuing with Andrew Bogut after his contract expires.

A champion center whose strong screens might be sorely missed by the Golden State Warriors, Bogut and the Mavs do not seem to be a match. Even Bogut himself has been open in public statements about the value of his contract as a trade asset and the uncertainty of his future. 

Assuming he will walk, the Mavs might be interested in trading Curry for an agile young center with a pretty jump shot who could help the future of their frontcourt (e.g. Hernangomez).

Or the Mavs could try to trade Bogut's big contract before season's end, and the Knicks could swap big men, sending Noah to Dallas for Bogut and pint-sized spark plug J.J. Barea. Although Noah's performances lately have been vastly improved, he's not anywhere near Bogut, who's No. 20 in the current defense rankings.

Nerlens Noel

One day, the Philadelphia 76ers are going to have a healthy young roster brimming with talent that makes the world quake with awe and terror.

But on that day, Nerlens Noel will be shaking a backboard with a ferocious block for a different team.

On an expiring contract with the Sixers, he has had enough of Philadelphia, and with him playing only 13 minutes per game, it seems it has had enough of him. 

A tremendously talented, high-flying rim protector and defender, the 6'11" power forward has still managed to average 0.8 blocks and 0.9 steals in those measly 13 minutes per game. The Knicks need another option to close down the lane when someone starts dominating the paint (like Greg Monroe did this week). Noel could be that option...if the Knicks don't give up much to get him.

The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski has indicated that teams interested in the 22-year-old have come away concerned about his attitude and maturity—"how he's carried himself there, of his habits."

Perhaps more than anyone, Noel has been abused by "The System," and he has every reason to be miserable. The smartest (and kindest) thing the 9-25 team could do right now is trade him—and trade him for the reduced price that it lowered him to by its own mismanagement. 

As Noel himself said to reporters, per Matt Moore of CBSSports.com, he's too good to be playing eight minutes a game.  

All stats from NBA.com and current as of Jan. 7.