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Now that the New York Knicks’ season is over, all eyes can now shift to the offseason and with so much cap space available for the team, pretty much every name you can think of is on the radar.
With close to $60 million available, the team could swing for the fences if it wanted to. The first-round exit against the Atlanta Hawks proved the Knicks still need to improve their roster in a big way. One of the ways to do that is obviously through free agency, which is why the Knicks will have to strike gold there.
After missing out on a marquee names in the past several offseasons, the Knicks went down a different route and filled out the roster with a plethora of 1-year deals. Now that these have expired, the team has a big decision to make.
Resigning many of these players will eat into the available cap space, and it’s possible the Knicks could take another route.
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley reveals three names the Knicks could go after in free agency and all of them make a ton of sense. Let’s take a look.
3 Free Agency Targets
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Buckley says that the Knicks could potentially go after Kawhi Leonard, provided he makes the decision to leave the Clippers.
If the team was knocked out in the first round against the Mavericks, that could’ve been a possibility. Now that the team is now one win away against the conference finals, that seems to be unlikely.
The 29-year-old superstar recently injured his ACL, so he might figure that staying with his current situation could prove to be more lucrative for him.
Two more realistic options include point guards Lonzo Ball and Spencer Dinwiddie. With the New Orleans Pelicans now in the process of hiring another head coach, Ball might become expendable there.
He’s been linked to the Knicks in the past and it’s clear the team could use more play makers. At just 23-years-old, Ball should only be getting better, and if he’s put into the right situation where he could thrive, he could make a giant leap.
As for Dinwiddie, he is coming off a torn ACL, so it’s unclear what the team would be getting if they target him, but he’s still a coveted player — for the right price.
With Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntilikina likely to move on, that would leave Derrick Rose as the lone option at point guard, provided he returns.
Rose is typically used as a 6th man, so Dinwiddie could easily slide into a starting role if he does come to the Knicks.
Don’t Forget the Draft
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The Knicks won’t have a top pick in the draft, which is actually a sign that the team is trending in the right direction, but they sound like they will try to get into the lottery.
There have always been some gems in the rough outside of the lottery, so it’s important to not forget about the draft entirely because key rotational pieces can be found there.
The Knicks hold four draft picks this year – No. 19, 21, 32 and 58 – so there will either be a lot of young talent coming in or these will be flipped in a trade or two.
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