The New York Knicks’ search for a young center has already taken them through free agency and the restricted market. Their next move could require sacrificing one of the league’s better bargain guards.
A hypothetical deal worth exploring would send Miles McBride to the Charlotte Hornets for Moussa Diabaté, a 24-year-old center New York has already monitored.
Knicks receive: Moussa Diabaté
Hornets receive: Miles McBride
There is no indication the teams have discussed such a trade. But the framework connects two players entering contract years and two teams with increasingly different positional needs.
New York’s need is clear. Mitchell Robinson left for Boston, Ariel Hukporti also departed, and the Knicks later signed restricted free agent Moussa Cisse to a two-year, $4.7 million offer sheet before Dallas matched it. The Cisse pursuit reinforced that New York still wants a younger center behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond.
Diabaté would fit that profile — and the Knicks’ interest would not be new.
Knicks Previously Monitored Moussa Diabaté
NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported in July that New York had expressed interest in Kevon Looney while also monitoring Diabaté.
That matters more now because Charlotte’s frontcourt has become crowded.
The Hornets selected Hannes Steinbach with the No. 14 pick after he averaged 18.5 points and a Big Ten-leading 11.8 rebounds at Washington. They later acquired former Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid in the blockbuster LaMelo Ball trade. Ryan Kalkbrenner also remains part of the center rotation.
A Hornets executive acknowledged that depth this summer, telling Spotrac’s Keith Smith that Charlotte entered last season believing Diabaté “was better than anyone else knew,” before adding Reid and Steinbach to a group that had already gotten meaningful production from Diabaté and Kalkbrenner.
“Now, we add Naz Reid and Hannes Steinbach to that mix? That’s real depth and they’re all different kinds of players. That’ll give (head coach) Charles (Lee) a lot to work with this season.”
Diabaté earned that praise. He averaged 7.9 points and 8.7 rebounds in 73 games, including 47 starts, while shooting 63.1% from the field. His 3.7 offensive rebounds per game would be particularly attractive to a Knicks team trying to replace some of Robinson’s work on the glass.
Miles McBride’s Future in New York Is Less Certain
Trading McBride would hurt.
He averaged a career-high 12 points while shooting 41.3% from 3 last season and remains one of New York’s best point-of-attack defenders.
But the Knicks’ decision not to extend him before the Aug. 11 threshold was notable. The move preserved their ability to trade McBride before the February deadline without the restrictions an extension could have created. He is entering the final season of his three-year, $13 million contract and is positioned for a sizable raise in 2027.
Diabaté is also entering an expiring season, making the hypothetical swap less about contract control than about where each franchise wants to invest next summer.
Charlotte’s backcourt changed dramatically after trading Ball. Coby White now leads a group that includes Dennis Schröder, Kon Knueppel, Grayson Allen and rookie Christian Anderson Jr. McBride, 25, could become White’s primary backup while giving Charlotte a younger long-term defensive option than Schröder.
New York faces the opposite problem.
The Knicks have guard depth, but their young center pipeline has thinned considerably. They also must account for Towns’ looming extension decision, which could carry enormous second-apron consequences.
That makes a McBride-for-Diabaté swap uncomfortable, but logical.
Charlotte would turn excess frontcourt depth into a younger guard it could keep.
New York would turn an expiring guard due a raise into a young rebounder at its thinnest position.
And unlike a speculative name pulled from another roster, Diabaté is someone the Knicks have already watched.
Knicks Trade Pitch Turns Miles McBride Into Young Mitchell Robinson Replacement