Getty Evan Fournier, New York Knicks
When you look at the New York Knicks roster, it’s currently comprised of multiple players who thrive when getting downhill towards the basket.
Slashers are a valuable commodity for any NBA team, but only if they have the required spacing around them, and that’s where the Knicks’ current roster falls short. When the front office made moves to bring in Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, they did so with the hope that the pair could provide an additional scoring punch, but most importantly, some much-needed floor spacing.
Of course, we all know how that experiment turned out, and now the front office is back at the drawing board looking for possible solutions. However, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post, the Knicks might not have to look far, as there is a sharpshooter over in Brooklyn that could be available if the offer was right.
The Knicks messed up by not trading for Joe Harris 🤩
“Joe Harris was missed this year, but with Seth Curry a Nets fixture now, Harris’ value is redundant. And what Evan Fournier does well is probably better served on the Nets than the Knicks, where an off-night won’t be cataclysmic and his ability to move without the ball will be rewarded. Their salaries are an almost exact wash,” Berman wrote.
The Brooklyn Nets nosedived out of the playoffs in the first round at the hands of the Boston Celtics and maybe looking for some additional playmaking from the bench, so if they see Evan Fournier as a potential piece to their puzzle, this deal could make sense for both sides.
Harris Makes Sense for New York
With Obi Toppin and RJ Barrett looking more and more like future building blocks for the Knicks, it makes sense to begin surrounding them with shooters. Neither of the New York’s young studs project as high-level perimeter players at this point in their career, and as such, will need all the spacing they can get if they’re going to dominate in the lane next season.
Harris is a career 43.9% shooter from the perimeter and has proven himself to be a reliable asset on the offensive end of the floor. Of course, as with any shooter, there are always concerns about their defense, but with his six-foot-six frame and underrated strength, Harris can be a valuable off-ball defender that can give you some on-ball defense in a pinch.
A Joe Harris appreciation post.
Here’s hoping for a healthy Joe come next season.
Julius Randle would also benefit from such a high-level shooter sharing the court with him, as he could begin to facilitate the offense from the elbows again, allowing him to get into dribble-hand-off actions before either rolling to the rim or popping back onto the perimeter, something which he struggled to do this season as defenses hunkered down in the paint due to New York’s lack of three-point shooting.
Jalen Brunson Looks Unlikely
One of the worst-kept secrets in the NBA right now is how much the Knicks are coveting Jalen Brunson in free agency. The team’s desire to land a battle-tested point guard is at boiling point, and Brunson fits the bill on almost every level. However, the Dallas Mavericks hold the cards right now, as Mark Cuban recently explained.
“We can pay him more than anybody…I think he wants to stay and that’s most important.”
@mcuban talks to @TheSteinLine about the Mavericks chances of re-signing @jalenbrunson1 this offseason.
“We can pay him more than anybody. I think he wants to stay, and that’s what’s important. J-Kidd has a big part to play in that,” Cuban recently told Bally Sports when asked about Brunson’s impending free agency.
With Brunson looking more and more like a long shot for the Knicks, looking at ways to accentuate the young, promising talent that’s already on the roster seems like the most logical move, and if that means adding shooters to open up the floor, there are not many options that are better than Joe Harris.