When the Knicks named Leon Rose as the new team president eight months ago, it was with an eye toward his decades of connections to the NBA stars and the hope that he could do what so many have failed to accomplish before: bring superstars to Madison Square Garden.
But Rose missed out on the first of those Monday when the NBA officially opened the gates on the trade market and Chris Paul, a longtime client of Rose, was dealt from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Phoenix Suns.
The problem here was not any connection between Rose and Paul, but the price tag for the 35-year-old point guard. The Suns sent out Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, a 2022 first-round pick, as well as guards Ty Jerome and Jalen Lecque.
It was a high price for an aging player with $85.5 million due to him over the two seasons. But the Suns are in a different place than Rose and the Knicks right now — trying to keep their star in place. Devin Booker signed a five-year, $158 million extension last year with the Suns and has not publicly hinted of leaving, but NBA sources believed that he could push for an exit after this season if the team did not get him help. Now he has Paul in the backcourt and DeAndre Ayton and Mikal Bridges in the frontcourt.
Some NBA sources indicated that Rose had interest in Paul, providing a stabilizing force in the locker room for a young Knicks team that has not been competitive for years. But the interest for the Knicks was believed to be if they could either send back Julius Randle and the $23 million he is guaranteed this season or if they could absorb his contract into cap space and send out just a spare part such as Dennis Smith Jr.
There are still stars out there for Rose and the Knicks to pursue if they would be interested in the Rockets' Russell Westbrook. But Westbrook is 32 with seven surgical procedures in his background and does not have the leadership reputation of Paul. The price is believed to be high for Westbrook, too, and the Knicks are hoping to retain cap flexibility with a star-filled free-agent class next summer. Even before that market opens, the Knicks want to have trade assets if one of those prospective free agents is placed on the trade market.
The Knicks have little that would be attractive to other teams right now if they aren't willing to part with RJ Barrett or Mitchell Robinson and so far they have not been.
The more likely deals for the Knicks now would be in Wednesday's NBA Draft, where they hold the Nos. 8, 27 and 38 picks. The prospect of moving up into the top three seems unlikely as they were not a part of workouts for LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman or Anthony Edwards, and Wiseman said Monday that he had not even had a phone call with the team.
But with many NBA team officials of a mind that the talent is evenly split from the range of No. 5 to 15, they could be willing to move down to bring in more assets or to combine picks to move up from 27.
The latest word is that the team is leaning toward one of the wings who are highly regarded — Florida State's duo of Devin Vassell and Patrick Williams, Auburn's Isaac Okoro or, if he slips, Dayton forward Obi Toppin. While they have interest in Alabama's Kira Lewis and Killian Hayes, who played in Germany, they could wait until their second pick in the first round to grab a point guard.
