Ranking Knicks' Top Trade Targets After 2024 NBA Playoff Loss
The New York Knicks arguably assembled the league's deepest roster during the 2023-24 NBA season.
It still wasn't enough to help them cover all of the injury absences that undoubtedly contributed to its 130-109 second-round loss in Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
New York's wounded walk of out of the playoffs sets into a fascinating offseason. Is continuity the aim after this roster just delivered the organization's first 50-win effort in more than a decade? Or are the Knicks still in the market for a major needle-mover?
Only the organization knows, but if it wants to pursue top-end talent, it has the assets to chase the best and brightest on the market. So, let's spotlight—and rank—the top three targets on New York's theoretical trade-market big board.
3. Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
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It's possible that the Donovan Mitchell-Knicks connection will remain a talking point until the New York native is draped in blue and orange. While the club could try waiting to court him in free agency next summer—he holds a $37.1 million player option for 2025-26, per Spotrac—there's always a risk he could wind up signing an extension (with Cleveland or any other trade destination) before then.
If the Knicks are fully convinced Mitchell is their missing puzzle piece, then they shouldn't bother trying to wait. The fact he only lands at No. 3 here, though, suggests there are reasons to wonder whether he truly qualifies as such.
He is, to be clear, a certified star, and the combination of him and Jalen Brunson in the same backcourt would put opposing defenses into countless pick-your-poison scenarios. Opponents couldn't think of swarming Brunson the way they often have this postseason, a strategy Mitchell himself has encountered in Cleveland.
Still, if the Knicks are looking for the ideal sidekick for Brunson, they probably aren't picturing a 6'3" scoring guard who does his best work with the basketball in his hands. The talent would be tremendous, and there are ways New York could try optimizing both (staggering their minutes to keep an offensive star on the floor at all times, for instance), but the fit isn't perfect, so it's hard to slot Mitchell any higher.
2. Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns
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Could Phoenix's playoff flop put Kevin Durant on the trade market? The Suns say it won't, but their options of improving this roster through a deal are extremely limited. Outside of Devin Booker—who feels as close to untouchable as anyone in the desert—Durant is the only player who could bring back the kind of assets needed to radically reshape this group around its stars.
A Durant deal might be unlikely, but it's not at all impossible. And if the four-time scoring champ does make it to the market, expect the Knicks to be all over him, as they were in 2019, when he left the Golden State Warriors and joined the Brooklyn Nets instead.
Durant is one of the easiest to fit stars this league has seen. He offers essentially equal offensive value on or off the ball, since he get his shot off against anyone and absolutely sizzles on catch-and-shoot chances (43.9 percent from three, per NBA.com). He's also a pliable defender with the right combination of length and instincts to wreak havoc as a help-side shot-blocker.
At 35 years old, he maybe isn't a perfect timeline fit with the 27-year-old Brunson, but both are obviously ready to win right now, so that isn't too concerning. Durant's injury history is the bigger worry, though, as the 75 games he played this season were more than half as many as he'd suited up for over the previous four campaigns combined.
1. Paul George, Los Angeles Clippers
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If Paul George wants to hit free agency this summer, he can. He'd just have to decline his $48.8 million player option for next season, per Spotrac, and then he could sign a longer, even more massive contract with someone (be that the Clippers or some other suitor).
Free agency isn't flush with win-now shoppers, though, so George could expand his list of possible landing spots by picking up his option. New York should be prominently featured on that list.
George would fit this roster like a tailored suit. He is essentially a turbo-charged version of OG Anunoby, providing similarly suffocating defense with a wider offensive arsenal that works in both primary and support roles. There is a malleability to George's game that isn't often seen with stars, and it allows him to make a significant impact all while avoiding stepping on the toes of other elites around him.
As an added bonus, if George let it be known that the Knicks were his preferred destination, then a trade maybe wouldn't deplete their asset collection the way most star-level acquisitions would.
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