Knicks Have Entire NBA Guessing After Latest Pre-Draft Rumors

The Knicks are in an extremely advantageous position after their championship win. Not only do they have a starting lineup and core that’s already in place for next season, but they also own three picks in next week’s draft to load up on even more talent.

That kind of capital creates numerous possibilities to help the team with a trade or outright player selection. Judging by the most recent pre-draft rumblings, the Knicks are exhausting all options in the lead-up to the event, making them a hard one for other teams to get a good read on.

Knicks quickly becoming NBA draft’s biggest wild card

Late on Tuesday, insider Jake Fischer relayed that New York is looking to trade one of its top two picks (No. 24 or No. 31) in the draft. In addition, Fisher noted that Spanish guard Sergio de Larrea is in the team’s sights, and he’s considered more of a draft-and-stash prospect than one who’d play in the NBA right away.

This rumor caught many by surprise, considering both selections give the Knicks two great chances at adding a legitimate player. Plenty of gems have been found in the late first or second round in general, like Jalen Brunson once upon a time.

However, this intel also made some sense considering New York’s roster situation. With several developmental pieces already on board, like Tyler Kolek and Pacôme Dadiet, there isn’t much room to add rookies, especially with established veterans taking up a majority of the spots.

Trading at least one pick would also free up money to be spent elsewhere. With the Knicks up against the second apron, bringing back Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet and Mohamed Diawara is more palatable without either a first-round rookie contract or early second-round deal also on the books.

Yet, owner James Dolan only created more confusion on Wednesday when he said he wants to avoid going into the second apron. That very likely means sending Robinson and Shamet out the door, but this only makes sense for the team if they’re using all three picks to replace them, and Fischer’s intel points to the opposite of that.

Adding even more smoke to this situation is that New York is doing key research on the exact players who may be on the board at No. 24 or 31. The Knicks have already worked out promising scoring prospects at wing/guard in Duke’s Isaiah Evans and Arkansas’ Meleek Thomas, in addition to two alluring frontcourt reinforcements in Michigan’s Morez Johnson and St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor.

And late on Wednesday, it was revealed that New York had brought in UConn’s Alex Karaban for an up-close look as well. He is No. 30 on ESPN’s big board and No. 31 on CBS Sports’, making him an incredibly realistic draft option for the Knicks at the end of the first or early second.

There’s a ton to like about his potential fit with the team, too, as a 6-foot-8 forward who won two NCCA championships in college. Over the last three seasons with the Huskies, he averaged a solid 13.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 2.2 apg (while shooting 36.7% from deep), positioning him as a more known quantity who could step in and immediately help a title contender given his experience.

New York certainly isn’t moving during the pre-draft process like a team that seems set on trading one of its top picks, which only blurs the lines even more. This does work out to the Knicks’ advantage, though, as the broader NBA will be unable to guess their next move when it comes to the draft.

Perhaps Leon Rose has a prospect he really wants, and he’s trying to throw others off his scent. Or maybe by feigning interest in the likes of Evans and Karaban, he wants to force another team to get desperate and send New York a lucrative trade offer to move up. There’s no ignoring the free agency implications that are directly connected to what the Knicks do in the draft as well.

Regardless of whatever the front office’s ulterior motive is, they’ve done a great job obscuring their true intentions, which will aid them as they look to make the most out of a draft they own three selections in.