Ranking Knicks' Top Trade Targets After 2025 NBA Playoff Loss
It's officially official that the 2024-25 NBA season will not be the one in which the New York Knicks snap a championship drought that dates back to 1973.
The 'Bockers are, however, building enough momentum for the New York faithful to believe this dry spell could be quenched sooner than later.
They just reached their first Eastern Conference finals since 1999—after winning 50-plus games in consecutive seasons for the first time since reeling off four consecutive 50-win campaigns between 1991-92 and 1994-95. They forged an All-NBA tandem in Jalen Brunson (second team) and Karl-Anthony Towns (third team), beefed up the wing ranks around it and played a relentless brand of basketball befitting of a Tom Thibodeau coached team.
They still couldn't find their way past the Pacers, falling to Indiana in six games, but they perhaps paved a path to reaching even greater goals down the line. To make that happen, though, they'll need to find a few roster reinforcements, which won't be the simplest task given their unpaid draft debts and significant salary costs.
3. Sam Hauser, Boston Celtics
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The Knicks need to build better depth this summer. More specifically, though, they have to find reserves that Thibodeau will actually trust in major moments.
Could Hauser be one of those players?
He should qualify, at the very least. He has already contributed to a championship run, serving as a full-time rotation regular for Boston's 2024 title team. He could help New York increase its three-point volume while also holding his own as a serviceable team defender (especially when surrounded by impact stoppers).
He also has a chance to get squeezed out of the Celtics, too, given their pressing need to cut costs. Hauser is good enough to get playoff rotation minutes in New York, and his ability to keep defenses honest could give Jalen Brunson some badly needed breathing room.
2. Cole Anthony, Orlando Magic
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The Knicks already struck gold once by adding the son of a former 'Bocker (Jalen Brunson, whose dad, Rick Brunson, spent parts of three seasons in New York). Maybe they could shake another shot-creator out of their family tree.
Cole Anthony, whose father, Greg Anthony, played his first four NBA seasons in Madison Square Garden, packs enough punch as a scorer and table-setter to keep the offense moving without Brunson.
Anthony's limitations as an outside shooter—he's more streaky than hopeless—have started cutting into his workload in Orlando, where the Magic have routinely rolled out some of the league's worst shooting rosters. With better spacers in the Big Apple, though, Anthony's slick handles, changes of direction and pace and fearless attacks might all lead to new levels of offensive potency.
Anthony would need to prove he can score consistently enough for Thibodeau to trust him despite his defensive deficiencies, but Anthony has the talent to do exactly that. And his trade cost shouldn't be much when the Magic keep trimming his floor time.
1. Keon Ellis, Sacramento Kings
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Ellis probably sits somewhere on the optimistic end of New York's trade budget. If he's obtainable, though, he might be a no-brainer target.
That might sound like high praise for folks who haven't kept close tabs on the Kings, since Ellis only became a full-time rotation player during last season's final stretch. He has since excelled in his nightly role, though, energizing that group with relentless on-ball defense, consistent shot-making (47.9/42.9/80.5 career slash line) and a pinch of playmaking.
He wouldn't radically reshape the Knicks or anything, but that's not what they need. He'd make them better at things they already do. His perimeter shot would be a real weapon, and he'd add to the disruption and switchability of a wing rotation already featuring Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.
Ellis' trade cost is tricky to pin down, particularly because he'll potentially be a tremendous contract value ($2.3 million team option). As long as it's not outlandish, it's worth a long conversation among New York's decision-makers.
