All-Star center Anthony Davis became one of the most coveted superstars before the February NBA trade deadline when he informed the New Orleans Pelicans that he has no plan of signing the massive contract extension that they are planning to offer next summer and wants to be traded to a team where he can consistently win and contend for the NBA championship title. One of the NBA teams who tried to acquire Davis was the New York Knicks, who reportedly offered a trade package centered on Kristaps Porzingis.
Though the deal failed to materialize, the Knicks are still highly expected to resume their pursuit of Anthony Davis in the 2019 NBA offseason. Kristaps Porzingis may have already been traded to the Dallas Mavericks, but the Knicks still have a plethora of trade assets that they could use in a potential blockbuster deal. Aside from their first-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Ian Begley of SportsNet New York revealed that the Knicks could also include Kevin Knox, a former No. 9 overall pick, in the trade package to acquire Davis from New Orleans.
Kevin Knox may have failed to establish an impressive performance in his rookie year, but he has shown lots of superstar potential. In 75 games he played with the Knicks, Knox averaged 12.8 points and 4.5 rebounds 37.0 percent shooting from the field and 34.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc. As Begley revealed, the Pelicans’ organization has recently ordered some of their men to gather intel about Knox.
“Just who New Orleans would want in a Davis package is unclear, of course. But you can be sure that the Pelicans would ask for first-round pick(s) in return for Davis. Would Kevin Knox be a player New Orleans asks about? Some people in the Pelicans organization were quietly gathering some intel on Knox recently, sources told SNY. Now, it’s common for teams to gather information on players. That’s part of the job of the front office/scouting department. But the uncertainty surrounding Davis’ future in New Orleans makes their information-gathering on Knox (which was happening before Griffin took over) intriguing.”
The Pelicans have quietly gathered intel on Kevin Knox in preparation for potential Anthony Davis negotiations, sources tell @IanBegley https://t.co/GsPhnUyv3V pic.twitter.com/SS6llqrFv9
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 10, 2019
Pairing Anthony Davis with two incoming free agent superstars will turn the Knicks from one of the worst teams in the NBA to a legitimate title contender in the Western Conference next season. Kevin Knox will undeniably be an intriguing addition to the Pelicans, especially if they decide to undergo a full-scale rebuild in the post-Davis era. In the potential deal that would send Davis to New York, the Pelicans will likely demand the Knicks’ 2019 first-round pick. Unfortunately, according to Begley, there’s still no consensus in the Knicks’ organization about trading their own first-round pick in the upcoming draft.
