Will the Knicks make a move before the NBA trade deadline? | Good Word with Goodwill
Yahoo Sports senior NBA writer Vincent Goodwill is joined by Fred Katz of The Athletic to discuss New York’s strategy with the deadline approaching on February 8 and if the team needs to make a deal to remain contenders in the East. Hear the full conversation on “Good Word with Goodwill” and subscribe to “Ball Don’t Lie” on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
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VINCE GOODWILL: Is this the year that you push all your chips in the center of the table and say, we're not just going to be happy getting to the second round?
FRED KATZ: Again, it depends on what happens with Randle coming back.
VINCE GOODWILL: And that shoulder looked bad. I don't know if people saw it. He fell directly onto that shoulder. And he tried his damnedest to pop that thing back in.
FRED KATZ: From everything that I've heard leading up to this point, what they want is a guy who can create offense when Jalen Brunson is off the floor. When Brunson is out of the game though, they really can't score. The offense is like 11 or 12 points per 100 possessions worse when Brunson leaves. And the reason for that is because they lost two offensive creators, two guys who can go and get a bucket, in Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.
I could see them piecing together Fournier with a first. I know they've been actively taking calls on Quentin Grimes. I could see them throwing Quentin Grimes into a deal. You can combine him with Fournier to bring back a salary in the 20s. Their preference, for sure, is not to bring back someone on an expiring contract because-- what you have to remember is you have to remember the grand plan. And the grand plan is they want to trade for a star to join Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby and the rest of the crew in New York.
And in order to do that, you need the salaries to be able to trade for that star so you can match salaries in a deal because the Knicks are going to be over the salary cap for the pretty good future coming up. They want to make another deal, though. They don't want to make the deal. They don't think the deal is going to come till next summer. But they want to make another deal.