NBA Trade Rumors: New York Knicks Call Houston Rockets About Ty Lawson

NBA trade rumors state that the New York Knicks have been interested in Ty Lawson. New NBA trade rumors have the Knicks contacting the Houston Rockets about the troubled point guard, likely to find out what it would take to acquire him before the NBA trade deadline on February 18. A report from the New York Post reveals that the Knicks are looking for “any” backcourt boost they can find for the second half of the season.

The trade rumors for a point guard don’t end there, as the Knicks contacted the Detroit Pistons about Brandon Jennings and the Minnesota Timberwolves about Ricky Rubio. Jennings ended up being traded to the Orlando Magic on February 17, while it has been made clear by the Wolves that Rubio isn’t available at the moment. While there are still point guards like Michael Carter-Williams and Jrue Holiday still on the market, it’s possible the Knicks just don’t have the assets to match up with any of these teams.

People around the New York Knicks who are being interviewed about these NBA trade rumors feel it is very likely the team doesn’t make improvements before the trade deadline. That includes All-Star Carmelo Anthony, interim coach Kurt Rambis, and quite a few NBA analysts. Rambis was quoted in the piece from the New York Post.

“That’s for Steve and Phil. There hasn’t been a lot of activity from our end that I’m aware of. That’s for them to assess. Anything that comes up, I’m sure they will address it with me and ask the opinion of the coaching staff and what they think, but nothing’s come out.”

Carmelo Anthony was also quoted by the Post, even as his name has appeared in several other NBA trade rumors. One of those suggested a three-team trade involving the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Boston Celtics could lead to Anthony playing in Cleveland and Kevin Love getting sent to Boston. The Knicks would emerge from the deal with several draft picks and expiring contracts.

“If you didn’t hear anything as of now, I doubt if we’re probably even doing something. But you never know. This game over the years has done some weird things. We’ve still got to 3 p.m. to try to figure something out. I haven’t been hearing anything. The guys on the team, seems like they haven’t been hearing anything.’ You haven’t seen any blockbusters that’s happened or any type of game-changers.”

Ty Lawson is an interesting name to surface in the latest NBA trade rumors, as he has a non-guaranteed contract for the 2016-17 season. It’s unclear whether the Knicks planned on having him play out the deal or if he was simply going to be a placeholder for the remainder of this season. Team president Phil Jackson has done a good job not simply gutting the current roster in order to make that final push for the 2016 NBA Playoffs, but the team will still have a lot of holes to deal with in the offseason.

While the New York Knicks may still deal a player like Kyle O’Quinn to free up salary, it’s starting to look like Phil Jackson may not make any major moves before the NBA trade deadline. It doesn’t mean that this is the end of players being linked to New York, it simply means that the next round of stories will be about offseason acquisitions instead. There are going to be a lot of top-tier free agents during the summer, so with that will come many more NBA trade rumors about teams trying to get further under the pending salary cap.

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