Knicks Open To Anthony Davis Trade For Draft Lottery? GM Explains Possibility

The New York Knicks franchise has big plans for the summer as it looks to get back to challenging for a playoff place and NBA championships. General manager Scott Perry admitted the team could even be willing to give up a top lottery pick in the 2019 NBA Draft for a player that will make them immediate contenders.

The Knicks had a year to forget as they ended the regular season as the worst team in the NBA, with a 17-65 record that saw them miss out on the post-season for a sixth consecutive season. Owing to the team’s poor record, they are in line to land one of the top 3 picks in the 2019 NBA Draft and this year’s class includes the likes Zion Williamson, who has been touted as a generational talent by many experts and guards Ja Morant and RJ Barrett.

Mills did not rule out trading the franchise’s draft pick for New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis, who is available via a trade this summer. It is possible the Knicks trade the possibility of signing a future star for one that will help them in the short term.

“Once the draft process plays out, your phone rings a lot of times,” Perry said told the New York Post. “I can’t sit here and tell you exactly what would happen in that scenario. We’ll be able to find a player that can help us get better. To what degree, we’ll see.”

The Knicks have been linked with a move for Kevin Durant in recent months as well, with many reports claiming a deal had been concluded. But Perry indicated that no deal was reached yet, claiming they would do everything to make Knicks a contender again, but they would not put all their eggs in one basket and go all out this summer.

“Our vision is eventually is to become a championship-caliber team,’’ the Knicks general manager added . “All our planning has that in mind. We’re not going to look at this summer as the end-all or be-all, per say. We’re excited to be in the game. We’re not going to go off the rails if we don’t get what you’re talking about. We’ll be very comfortable with the draft and what we can add via trade to be a better basketball team.”

The Knicks have set themselves up for a busy summer as they have as much as $74 million available in max salary cap space, which will allow them to sign two big free agents. Durant and Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving are said to be top of the team’s wish list, while Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker has also been thrown into the mix.

The New York franchise’s president Steve Mills was hopeful of landing some top players and revealed that all the noise coming from agents was that a number of players were interested in moving to Madison Square Garden in the summer, and 2019 has one of the best free agent classes in recent history with the likes of Klay Thomson, Jimmy Butler, and Kawhi Leonard joining Durant and Irving.

“We’re hopeful and we’re excited,’’ Mills said. “We’re excited because now we’re in position. There’s a lot of noise and a lot of guys are interested in New York. They like Fiz. They like some of the changes we made in the organization. We hear that from agents. We read it from guys getting interviewed about what guys feel about the Knicks. We hear that from other players. At least we’re in the game, and hopeful something really good happens. But we won’t know until it happens.”