Triple Option

Jan. 31, 2019 @5:04 PM

By Michael Maynard

Hours after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke that Kristaps Porzingis met with Knicks’ brass with concerns with the direction of the franchise, New York shipped him out to Dallas in a blockbuster trade. The Knicks received DeAndre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, and a future first round pick. The Mavericks received Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee, and Trey Burke.

The latest development from The Athletic’s Shams Charania is that Porzingis plans to sign the Mavericks’ qualifying offer, which would make the 7’3″ former All-Star an unrestricted free agent in 2020.

Take a minute to take that all in. This is shaping up to be the first of several potential blockbuster trades at the NBA trade deadline.

Here are projected rotations we can expect to see from these teams for the remainder of 2019:

DALLAS: PG Luka Doncic, SG Tim Hardaway Jr., SF Harrison Barnes, PF Dorian Finney-Smith, C Dwight Powell, BENCH Dirk Nowitzki, Maxi Kleber, Courtney Lee, Devin Harris, Trey Burke

NEW YORK: PG Dennis Smith Jr., SG Wesley Matthews, SF Kevin Knox, PF Noah Vonleh, C DeAndre Jordan, BENCH Mario Hezonja, Lance Thomas, Damyean Dotson, Mitchell Robinson, Allonzo Trier, Frank Ntilikina, Enes Kanter, anyone else the Knicks want to try out

All in all, this trade has very little effect on this NBA season. The Knicks are well out of the playoff race, and Dallas was trending downwards and by making this trade decided to play for the future.

Porzingis tore his ACL mid-season last year, and the Knicks had planned to sit him out the entirety of this current season, as the Knicks were not going anywhere this season. Dallas will likely take the same approach, as by giving up three starters they seem content on punting the 2019 season in the loaded west. Instead, they’ve decided to pair two of the most prominent young Europeans the league has ever seen for the 2019-20 season, and in doing so convince Porzingis to stay long-term and take the torch from Dirk.

New York is now in complete KD mode. Jordan and Matthews come off the books for $40 million following this season. They can also let about $28 million more free from letting Enes Kanter, Mario Hezonja, and Emmanuel Mudiay walk. Adding Dennis Smith makes that about $25 more, and it’s not out of the question they go for another max contract. In fact, they virtually must to convince KD to sign.

I’m planning to do an article of hypothetical Anthony Davis trades soon, and the Knicks are still in play. In fact, that may be the type of move New York should look for, as using some of their young guys (Smith, Ntilikina, Knox, Robinson, Trier) as trade assets can help them create the cap space for two max-players.

So let’s assume Durant is sold on playing with one more max-player in New York. We have Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Boogie Cousins, Klay Thompson, and Kemba Walker as the first-tier option Durant would be looking for. All of these would involve clearing about $12 million in cap space by jettisoning most of their roster. Otherwise they’d probably need to trade for a player, and if Davis doesn’t work out, then they get creative. Bradley Beal, John Wall, Damian Lillard, and CJ McCollum could be names to watch.

Also worth keeping in mind is that New York should have a top draft pick, and possibly the #1 overall. That pick would definitely be required in a potential Davis trade, but New Orleans would likely want to wait to see what pick that becomes before dealing their coveted superstar. If the ping-pong balls fall so New York is the first team on the clock, Zion Williamson becomes a very big trade chip. If they’re second or third or lower in the draft, that pick becomes less appealing.

It’s also possible Durant would be ecstatic to play with Zion or RJ Barrett or Ja Morant (the latter two, for better or worse, have respectively been compared to his former OKC buddies James Harden and Russell Westbrook). Of course free-agency begins after the NBA Draft, so the Knicks can make their case beforehand. But with the Lakers upping the urgency to trade for The Brow, New York may not get a chance at AD if they don’t act soon.

Dallas could realistically try to maneuver their way to another superstar player, but re-signing Porzingis is the important task. Harrison Barnes and Courtney Lee will become free-agents and free up close to $30 million, but most of that would have to go towards Porzingis. Hardaway has a $19 million player option for 2020-21. If they can find a team to take that, they may be able to seek upgrades elsewhere, but they also will have to pay Doncic eventually.

It feels weird to say that a top-20 player getting traded won’t impact the league immediately, but that’s the situation we have here. However this looms incredibly large for the 2019 offseason, where we can expect some groundbreaking movement.