The New York Knicks may not want to stumble upon a recent mock trade that ships Julius Randle out of town.
Heavy Sports’ Collin Loring crafted a three-team deal with the Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and Utah Jazz that has New York relinquishing much more than their All-Star power forward. The deal is as follows:
“New York receives: Walker Kessler, Kevon Looney, Collin Sexton
Utah receives: Miles McBride, Moses Moody, Andrew Wiggins
Golden State receives: Randle, Jericho Sims”
Knicks do not get Julius Randle’s scoring output back in mock trade
While the Knicks get a great rim-protector in Kessler and an exceptional rebounder with championship rings in Looney, as well as a strong scoring guard in Sexton, none of the three measure up to Randle, who is arguably the best player in the deal next to Wiggins.
Even though the Knicks traded for fringe All-Star Mikal Bridges this summer and inherited his 19.6 points per game from last season, New York still needs a second bonafide 25 PPG contributor to help them come out of the East. Bridges needs to prove that he’s that guy for an entire season before the Knicks can confidently move off of Randle without getting that production back.
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Knicks also lose defense and three-point marksmanship in giving up Miles McBride
Additionally, the Knicks lose McBride and Sims in this trade. McBride at this juncture of his career is more of an asset to the Knicks in the role he played last season than Sexton would be in a bench role behind All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson.
McBride shot 41 percent from three-point range in 2023-24 and upped his field goal percentage by almost 10 percent to 45.2 percent, all while taking on the other team’s toughest perimeter scorer every night in an elevated role.
The return of Kessler and Looney makes up for the loss of Sims. However, both big men would be brought into the fold to compete for time with one another and Mitchell Robinson, who the Knicks have yet to move this off-season. Looney would be the quintessential pick-and-roll partner for Brunson and could also help the team get easier looks off of backdoor cuts and dribble handoffs, but Randle’s full repertoire still outweighs those positives.
New York does have a need for depth at center after losing Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Albeit, this deal loads all three teams with players at the same or similar positions. Further, the Warriors just lost Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks and may want to cling onto Wiggins to prevent a collapse in the thick of Stephen Curry’s prime. The Knicks would be better off keeping their current roster intact.
