The Knicks have a surplus of guards who play the same role of being defense-first players with an excellent three-point shot, and with their extension of Miles McBride, it’s left Quentin Grimes in an odd situation. Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo both began the first years of their four-year deals, and OG Anunoby has become one of their most valuable players. In Grimes’ struggles, others have emerged, and Fred Katz of The Athletic is reporting that the Knicks are ‘actively fielding offers’ for the third-year guard.
He was their first-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft but has taken a step back after an excellent sophomore season that saw him become the team’s starting shooting guard. With the Knicks in desperate need of a facilitator, they could potentially deal the young guard to a rival team to make a much-needed upgrade to their bench.
Knicks Could Move Quentin Grimes For an Impact Piece
After averaging 11.3 points per game with a 61.9% True Shooting Percentage, the 23-year-old has seen his scoring drop to just 6.9 points per game while having a career-worst 56.1% True Shooting Percentage. He’s not the same player he was before, and while that could be due to a lack of confidence and shots, the Knicks likely don’t have the time or minutes to let him sort those issues out.
The emergence of Miles McBride since the departure of Immanuel Quickley has made it hard to justify playing Grimes over him, and Donte DiVincenzo’s excellent abilities from three have eliminated him from the starting five. The Knicks know they need a facilitator, and adding one is more than worth the potential subtraction of Grimes, who has become a redundancy in their rotation.
On the market, I imagine that the young guard holds enough value for teams to have an interest in him, as defensively stout shooters will always have a place in the NBA, but the Knicks could look to move him in a deal for an impact player instead of just draft capital. The Atlanta Hawks could be a match for the Knicks, and the team’s interest in guard Dejounte Murray and center Clint Capela could create buzz around trade talks.
Perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers are interested in Quentin Grimes, as we know the Knicks are targeting Malcolm Brogdon for that second unit as well. However the Knicks choose to navigate through the deadline, it’s becoming clearer that they just don’t have the opportunities to maximize Grimes’ value. It’s telling that the team chose to extend McBride before Grimes, and since being inserted back into the rotation, he’s hitting 48.8% of his threes on 4.6 attempts a game, averaging 9.8 points a night.
McBride is also an excellent defender, and while he can’t serve the role of a facilitator in an offense, he could certainly be a complimentary guard to a player like Dejounte Murray or Malcolm Brogdon, both of whom can be proficient scorers especially from beyond the arc. It could be a mutually beneficial situation for the Knicks and Quentin Grimes, as both sides share opposing needs and might be better off without the other in the right kind of deal.
It would be a tough departure from an emotional perspective, watching three former first-round picks shipped off in deals, but being cold and calculated is part of running a business. The Knicks need to get more shot creation, and they aren’t going to find that internally, but by moving Quentin Grimes they could potentially find a match on the market.