The Knicks, you might have heard, had a chance to draft Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They passed, instead taking Kevin Knox. It’s easy to knock teams for missing on Gilgeous-Alexander. But the miss in the 2018 draft stings a bit more for New York than others.

Here's why: Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't working out for teams ahead of the draft. But the Knicks were one of a very few teams – possibly the only team – to get a private workout with Gilgeous-Alexander, as SNY has reported. And they still passed on him.

Some see Gilgeous-Alexander as one of the young stars the Knicks could target in a future trade. The Garden crowd got a first-hand look at the rising star on Sunday, when he scored 37 points on 22 shots in OKC's win. But fans in New York shouldn't be overly excited about the prospect of trading for Gilgeous-Alexander; he's under contract through 2026-27.

The trade speculation around Gilgeous-Alexander stems from a published quote from an anonymous executive. The executive was speculating about Gilgeous-Alexander's happiness in Oklahoma City, citing his desire to win.

For argument’s sake, let’s say Gilgeous-Alexander is unhappy in Oklahoma City.

Why would he put his professional reputation on the line by trying to force a trade to New York?

The Thunder have an abundance of young talent (Josh Giddey and Lu Dort looked phenomenal on Sunday; No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren won’t even take the court until next season). The Knicks would have to give up a significant portion of their young players/future picks to obtain Gilgeous-Alexander via trade.

Would they have enough talent left over in the wake of a Gilgeous-Alexander trade to compete in the Eastern Conference?

That’s a question Gilgeous-Alexander would have to ask himself before he committed to (publicly or privately) forcing a trade to New York (A trade demand/request, of course, wouldn’t guarantee that Gilgeous-Alexander ends up in New York).

It’s also a question the Knicks have to ask themselves before they pursue any major trades.

The Current talent gap between New York and other young ascending teams was laid bare during Sunday's messy matinee.

That talent gap was yet another issue laid bare by Sunday’s messy matinee.

Put simply: the Thunder's young players looked better than the Knicks' young players.

It’s unfair to put that problem solely on Thibodeau. It’s an organizational shortcoming.

But if the talent gap and energy issues lead to more lopsided losses like Sunday’s, there will probably be consequences. Will it be a coaching change? A change in the front office? A major trade?

Whatever it is, the Knicks will probably have to do something significant. Another season full of ugly losses that ends after 82 games won’t be enough to maintain the status quo.

**Grimes missed nearly all of training camp/preseason due to lingering foot soreness. He also missed the Knicks’ first six games because of the ailment. Grimes is healthy enough to play at the moment. But he’s not in the regular rotation. Thibodeau says Grimes’ conditioning is down due to the time that he’s missed. So he can’t play significant minutes at this point, even though he is healthy enough to get on the floor.

Popular in the Community