Proposed Sign & Trade Would Swap Knicks Starter for Rising Point Guard

Getty New York Knicks guard Miles McBride defends Jalen Brunson during a March 9 game against the Dallas Mavericks.

Despite bringing in four-time All-Star Kemba Walker and Miles McBride this past offseason, the New York Knicks‘ long-term outlook at point guard remains as bleak as ever.

As does the team’s relationship with of starting center Mitchell Robinson, who’s headed for unrestricted free agency this summer.

What if the Knicks could kill two birds with one stone?

Marc Berman of the New York Post posed a sign-and-trade with the Dallas Mavericks involving Robinson that would net New York a starting point guard.

“A sign-and-trade package with (Jalen) Brunson and Robinson as the the central characters isn’t farfetched,” Berman wrote on March 21.

Brunson, 25, is averaging 16 points, five assists and 3.7 rebounds per game this season while playing a contributing role on a Mavericks team that currently holds the fifth seed in the Western Conference playoff race.

Given that the Knicks have had their eye on Brunson for about a year, speculation linking him to the Big Apple likely will continue heading into the summer. However, Mavericks owner has said the team would like to sign him, according to a February 1 Sports Illustrated story, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Would acquiring Brunson cost the Knicks Mitchell Robinson? Would the Dallas Mavericks deem Robinson an appropriate return for Brunson?

This isn’t the first reporting linking the big man to the Western Conference club.

Robinson ‘Has Eyed’ the Mavericks

In the March 21 New York Post story, Berman said that Robinson might be looking at Dallas as his next team.

“Robinson, an unrestricted free agent, has eyed the Mavericks as a destination,” Berman wrote. “Dallas needs rebounding and a defensive interior presence.”

That’s fortunate for the New York Knicks, who would need the 23-year-old’s consent in any sign-and-trade.

Robinson, who’s averaging 8.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game would be an upgrade over Mavericks’ current starter, Dwight Powell, 30, who is averaging 8.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.4 blocks per game.

Would the Mavericks be willing to pay the price it might require to bring him to Dallas?

In a March 10 story for USA Today’s HoopsHype, insider Michael Scotto disclosed what kind of payday Robinson could be looking at:

According to those executives, his worst-case scenario is the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, but generally, the projected range for him is between $12-13 million annually, which would be more than what Nerlens Noel got previously in free agency with the Knicks. Most executives think with the Knicks having Robinson’s Bird Rights, most around the league don’t see him walking for nothing.

To his point, however, sending Robinson to Dallas wouldn’t be letting him “walk for nothing.”

There’s an argument that what’d he bring back to the Knicks could be considered everything they need.

Brunson Seeking $20 Million a Year

In Berman’s March 21 story, he said Brunson remained the No. 1 target for the Knicks this offseason:

In free agency, the Knicks will either have to trade expiring contracts — and they have a bunch, including Burks — or do a sign-and-trade deal to get an elite free agent. Their top target is Jalen Brunson of the Mavericks, but there are other free-agent point guards on the market.

And furthermore, it’s a mutual sentiment:

NBA sources have long indicated Brunson, because of his many Knicks connections, is interested in the Knicks but his market value might have neared $20 million per.

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