Knicks, Thunder and Cavaliers Stand to Gain a Lot from Big Trade

The first big NBA trade of 2015 has occurred, as the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers completed a three-team deal on Monday night, as noted by Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com.

The move shuffles six players, as Dion Waiters goes to the Thunder, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert move to the Cavs and Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas join the Knicks.

New York is also getting a 2019 second-round draft pick from the Cavs, who are receiving a first-round draft pick from the Thunder. The move will shake up some on-court performances for each team but will also help remove some potential roster problems at the same time.

Waiters was the odd man out in a Cavaliers offense that had to be divided among LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. While Waiters did not openly complain about his position with the team, he was relegated to a smaller role. At the time of the trade he was no longer starting but coming off of the bench to play with the second team

Much of the Cavaliers’ season has been swamped by stories of dysfunction, as the team has not performed up to standards since the return of James and arrival of Love.

For example, coach David Blatt has recently found himself as the target of debates regarding his abilities to coach the team. As the team continues to struggle within the Eastern Conference, this move will add Smith's scoring abilities from the bench and Shumpert's abilities to play defense at critical points. 

The Knicks have had their own share of problems throughout this season. At 5-32, they have the worst record in the league, and there doesn't seem to be any remedy to stop the bleeding. Fans are calling for coach Derek Fisher's dismissal, with “Fire Fisher” chants during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. 

While nothing has helped their on-court performances, J.R. Smith has been the topic of off-court situations that have caused many to question his place in the league. From untying Shawn Marion's shoelaces to failed drug tests and fines for revealing Instagram posts, Smith has drawn negative attention to himself. All the more reason to jettison him from a team within one of the biggest markets in sports.

Shumpert stands to gain the most from this move. His main contribution to the Knicks was his defensive capabilities, but he was coming into his own on the offensive side of the ball as well. Playing with LeBron will give him the opportunity to further develop this area of his game. It will be interesting to see how Shumpert's presence will improve the Cavs defense for the duration of this season.

For Oklahoma City, this trade will allow the Thunder to remove some contracts while bringing in Waiters, who is a viable scoring option to add to the roster. Since losing both James Harden and Kevin Martin in recent years, the team has continued searching for ways to pick up the scoring slack when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook go to the bench—or worse, succumb to injury.

The Thunder, Knicks and Cavaliers each will find value in this trade. For each team, the benefits are quite different.

The desired result is to eventually improve how the teams have performed on the court, but for the Knicks and Cavaliers, the trade will allow them to work on some personality and cohesiveness issues that have plagued them this season.