Knicks Trade Rumors: Examining 2016 Deadline Reports

One of the teams that continue to appear in trade rumors before Thursday's NBA trade deadline is the New York Knicks. A major part of the reason is that the Knicks desperately need to upgrade the point guard position, and several players who are potentially on the market would represent an improvement.

The Knicks reportedly are interested in Atlanta's Jeff Teague, according to a report from Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, though rounding up the assets to acquire him will be easier said than done for New York.

"They just didn’t have the pieces to make it happen," a league source told Ian Begley of ESPN.com. And multiple executives around the league reportedly believe the team's lack of assets will prevent them from acquiring an elite point guard, per Begley.

The team has been linked to a few big names at the position. Begley also reported that New York has been "monitoring Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings in recent weeks" while adding that the Knicks also inquired about Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder, though nothing came of those talks.

Meanwhile, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported that Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio is "readily available" before Thursday's deadline, though he suspected that the Knicks would have trouble landing him given a lack of trade resources. 

He also cited Houston's Ty Lawson as a player the Knicks could be intrigued by as they look to solve their point guard issues.

Outside of perhaps Lawson—who has played poorly this season but has proved to be a solid player in the past and likely just needs a change of scenery—any of the aforementioned players would be an upgrade over the team's current crop of table-setters.

Player	Team	PPG	APG	RPG	SPG	MPG	PER
Ricky Rubio	Minnesota Timberwolves	9.7	8.6	4.4	2.2	30.3	18.1
Jeff Teague	Atlanta Hawks	15.1	5.5	2.7	1.3	28.6	17.3
Dennis Schroder	Atlanta Hawks	10.7	4.5	2.8	0.9	20.7	16.4
Jose Calderon	New York Knicks	7.5	4.1	3.1	0.9	27.6	13.0
Ty Lawson	Houston Rockets	6.3	3.6	1.8	0.8	23.4	9.5
Jerian Grant	New York Knicks	4.7	2.4	1.7	0.5	15.7	9.4

It's easy to see why the Knicks want to get better at the position.

Of course, the Knicks apparently want to kill two birds with one stone. According to Stein and Windhorst, the Knicks are also "trying their best to get a team interested in Jose Calderon and the $7.7 million owed to the Spaniard next season" and are "talking up Calderon's leadership qualities and, in some cases, offering to include big man Kyle O’Quinn to sweeten proposals."

It seems unlikely that O'Quinn will be sweet enough to help that medicine go down, however.

So, the Knicks seemingly want an upgrade at point guard and dump some money, too. It's feasible that they'll be able to achieve one of those goals. Accomplishing both likely won't happen, however, and in pretty much any scenario, the team will have to get a third party involved in any dealings.

Well, unless Carmelo Anthony waives his no-trade clause and the team is able to move him. Isola reported over the weekend that there had been talks between the Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics about a trade that would send Anthony to Cleveland, Kevin Love to Boston and a package of players and draft picks, including Timofey Mozgov, to New York.

Don't hold your breath waiting for that megadeal to materialize, however.

"I’m not going anywhere," Anthony told Sirius XM radio on Saturday, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.

Melo added: "One championship in New York is better than multiple somewhere else. That was the reason I wanted to come to New York. That’s the reason I’m in New York. I don’t want to run. I could have ran somewhere when I was a free agent. I came back for a reason. I came back because I want to be here."

Those certainly sound like the words of a man who has no intention of waiving his no-trade clause, right? 

Still, Anthony has to at least consider joining LeBron James and the Cavaliers if those talks are indeed substantive. Likewise, the Knicks have to at least consider the possibility of bringing in assets to rebuild the organization around rookie Kristaps Porzingis. 

It seems like a long shot that the Knicks will trade Anthony before Thursday. Frankly, it seems like a long shot that the Knicks will pull off any trade that substantially improves the roster. Despite all of the whispers surrounding this team, the most likely outcome is a boring lead-up to the trade deadline for the Knicks.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.