The Knicks and Jazz are in agreement on a trade that would send veteran center Ed Davis to New York, SNY's Ian Begley confirmed.
Utah will also be sending two second-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft with Davis, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
This is the second Knicks’ trade that netted a 2023 second-round pick. During the NBA Draft, the Knicks traded the No. 33 pick and received Detroit’s 2023 second-rounder.
They will have four second round picks in 2023. The club also may have two first-round picks in 2023 (one from the Mavericks via the Kristaps Porzingis trade).
That draft may include high-school players. So the Knicks would be able to draft a high-school player and put him on their G League team.
Davis is set to make $5 million in 2020-21. It’s unclear if New York plans to keep Davis on the roster for next season or waive him. Utah, per ESPN, was looking to shed some salary to re-sign Jordan Clarkson and sign Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert to extensions.
So the Knicks used their cap space to acquire assets, something that New York was reluctant to do last summer when it had significant cap space.
SNY had earlier reported that New York was open to using its cap space to take on unwanted contracts and acquire draft picks or young players.
If Davis remains on the roster, he would be a valuable veteran for the young Knicks.
When Davis was in Brooklyn, young Nets players valued his veteran leadership. Based on the Knicks’ current roster, Davis would serve as a backup forward/center if he remained on the team.