The New York Knicks have a lot of decisions to make about the future of this season as their free fall continues.
After their latest loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, New York finds themselves sitting at 23-27, good for 12th in the Eastern Conference and just out of the reach of the NBA play-in tournament hunt. Both the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks, the team who dispatched the Knicks in the playoffs last season, are sitting a game ahead in the standings.
The front office will have to decide whether this season is worth salvaging or if they should have a fire sale on the veterans and rebuild for the future. There’s one thing the Knicks have plenty of and it’s young talent. Perhaps they have too much as the newest Knick Cam Reddish has had difficulty cracking the rotation.
Either the veterans have to go or the young talent such as Obi Toppin, another player who has been fighting for minutes, has to deal with sporadic playing time.
Another option would be to ship some of the talent out of town, even if means giving up on some of the future potential. Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley came out with a list of players each team should actively shop before the trade deadline, and he listed Toppin as the player the Knicks should look at for a possible swap.
Toppin Bounces His Way Out of New York?
GettyObi Toppin and Carmelo Anthony.
Toppin has had a lot of trouble finding consistent playing time, largely because he’s behind Randle in the depth chart. Coach Tom Thibodeau has shown to give Randle a much longer leash than Toppin, meaning one mistake is often enough to get him pulled.
With the Knicks currently having a roster build for something that’s meant to win now, it could mean that some of the talent on the bench should be flipped for somebody who is ready to contribute right away. Buckley floats the idea of De’Aaron Fox, a player who has been tied to the Knicks through rumors recently.
There are a lot of teams in the league who could use the upside and athleticism of Toppin, so he’d get a lot of interest if the Knicks were to make him available. As a matter of fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if the team wasn’t already fielding calls about him.
A report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says the team is also open to shopping their veterans such as Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier and Alec Burks. If that were to happen, it’d likely result in a youth movement for New York and that would mean Toppin could stay and play a lot more.
Will They Give Him Up?
GettyObi Toppin has an opportunity for more playing time elsewhere.
Toppin plays close to 16 minutes per game for the Knicks, so it’s not like he’s riding the bench completely, but he does bring an energy to the team when he’s in the lineup that it lacks without him
He’ll never be able to find consistency with Randle ahead of him, but Thibodeau has shown he is open to playing him and Randle together, so that could be an option going forward.
In just his second season as a pro, Toppin has shown a lot of promise, so fans would likely want to keep him around for a while, but the NBA is a business and things can change at the drop of a hat.
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Knicks Urged to Seek Trade Partner for Ex Top-10 Pick