For the last three seasons, Golden State has been the lone superpower lording over a captive league, courtesy of its long-distance weapons of mass destruction. However, a new world beckons. Spindly upcoming free agent Kevin Durant will be taking overtures from interested suitors. DeMarcus Cousins is thriving, but he was always a one-and-done experiment and his high-caliber play thus far indicates he may finesse a max deal from someone after all.
Even Klay Thompson will seek a max contract from Golden State, while the Lakers organization his father has repped for thirty years will make an all-out push for him to upgrade the NBA’s worst 3-point shooting unit.
The tectonic plates beneath NBA Pangaea are beginning to shift as the trade deadline approaches. The most dramatic of those shifts has seen the New York Knicks migrating their long-term contracts, including All-Star centerpiece Kristaps Porzingis, to Dallas. In the process, they’ve become an even more enticing option in free agency for not one, but two superstars.
For the last year, the NBA intelligentsia has operated under the assumption that Kyrie Irving, Durant or perhaps Kawhi Leonard would be joining Porzingis in Madison Square Garden. Instead, the Knicks bulldozed a row of load-bearing columns supporting the Porzingis era, so they could sell another bridge to its fans.
New York’s irrationally high confidence is truly Trumpian. They hustle persistently and are a testament to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, exemplified by their irrationally high confidence in contrast to the organization’s meager track record of success and stability. They blow hot wind, even during late January’s polar vortex, and have been mismanaged by an overgrown, fickle trust fund kid, yet their base twists themselves into knots to believe there’s a master plan being executed, instead of recycled flimflam being thrown against the wall until something sticks.
On Thursday, Knicks team president Steve Mills essentially transferred a blank check covering the security deposit and a year’s rent to an enigmatic landlord, for a Manhattan property they’ve only seen on Craigslist. The prevailing line being projected by the Knicks involves Irving being sold on their cap space and the opportunity to play with a max contract superstar who can provide more firepower than Boston’s defective Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum’s high-upside pushing through growing pains. Yet, the theoretical superstar free agents who’ll fill New York’s empty max slots are the caravan and border wall of NBA Twitter. It may never arrive.
There are a variety of ways for this to go awry in the Madison Square Garden of Forking Paths. Perhaps Leonard, Irving or Durant may commit to New York on their own and they spend the next 12 months clamoring for Anthony Davis to give them a look in 2020. Nirvana would result in Durant and Leonard or Irving taking the bait, making the Knicks contenders and finally putting the franchise on a path to salvation. On the other hand, Durant could choose to remain in Golden State or link up with fellow introvert Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers. Maybe Irving realizes Boston has more going for it in every facet, besides New York’s proximity to West Orange, New Jersey, where he was raised. The Knicks could also whiff on both, then find themselves overpaying for the services of Brooklyn native Kemba Walker, while drafting RJ Barrett or Rui Hachimura.
More canny franchises would gradually build around a player of Porzingis’ talent. The Knicks hamstrung themselves by inking Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah to contracts worth upwards of $191 million, then pawned their only All-Star off for Cap Space, the first-cousin of Cash Considerations, second-cousin of Cap Flexibility and a dynamic, but limited young point guard they passed on in the draft two years ago. The mystery box is potentially with unrealistic promises and expectations. Curiosity won.
While the Knicks dive into basketball bankruptcy, the Mavericks’ Mark Cuban has put on a masterclass in savvy business restructuring. Instead of shark tanking as Dirk Nowitzki settles into his twilight years, they’ve spent money to remain competitive. We applaud the Spurs for their continuity, but team president and general manager Donnie Nelson was his dad’s assistant GM when they drafted Dirk Nowitzki.
They traded a first round pick and Trae Young for Luka Doncic, the most accomplished European prospect in NBA Draft history. They flipped an underwhelming Dennis Smith Jr., Wes Matthews, three years removed from a ruptured Achilles heel and DeAndre Jordan’s one-year deal into Porzingis and Hardaway Jr.
On the Knicks end, Smith has the most upside and a manageable rookie contract for two more seasons. Knicks were high on him before the 2017 Draft, but Phil Jackson chose Frank Ntilikina while Dallas took Smith one pick later. New York hasn’t abandoned Ntilikina because of his disruptive defense, but they have cooled on his development into a dynamic offensive playmaker.
Yet, New Yorkers and analysts continue enabling the Knicks’ get-a chip quick schemes. Every few years they conceive of a perfect plan to get a max free agent or two involved with their pyramid scam. The latest excuse for the Knicks reset sounds just like 2010, where they wound up with Amare Stoudemire after missing out on Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. By packaging Porzingis, as well as Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee’s burdensome contracts, they cleared cap space for 2019. The latest blueprint is to play their lucky numbers, win the (draft) lottery, draft Zion Williamson, sign Durant and Irving.
Philadelphia’s Process was ridiculed and scorned, but the results are speaking for themselves. The Knicks brass’ short attention spans could never sustain that level of discipline.
They’re attracted to meretricious schemes, which lack tangible substance. Williamson may be Larry Johnson redux (the Charlotte version, not the Knicks’ decaying LJ), but first they’ve got to earn the No. 1 pick. Before draft reform, the NBA’s last-place team had a 25 percent chance of winning the lottery. Those odds have dwindled to 14 percent, beginning with the 2019 Draft.
Here is an ESPN graphic on how NBA Draft lottery odds change in 2019 pic.twitter.com/Jk8X7q0J3Z
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 28, 2017
As of Friday morning, they had the NBA’s worst record, which means their odds of winning the Draft Lottery are tied with Phoenix and Cleveland’s. If they land Williamson, they’ll have to hope his appeal is enough to get Durant or Kawhi Leonard and Irving on board with the grand vision.
New York had until the Feb. 7 trade deadline to pin down the perfect deal. Instead, they leapt first, looked second. The 2019 mystery box is very alluring. Yet, once the ground finishes quaking beneath our feet, bamboozled Knicks faithful could find themselves wondering where it all went wrong and drowning in mediocrity.
