Knicks Among Favorites to Land Former No.1 Pick

After missing out on the Bradley Beal sweepstakes, oddsmakers remain convinced that the New York Knicks could get their star.

Could that star be Zion Williamson?

The Knicks have the third-best odds (+750 — 11.8% implied probability) to land Williamson via trade, according to bookies.com.

The Portland Trail Blazers, who own the No. 3 pick of this year’s draft are +250 — a 28.6% chance of netting Williamson on a Draft Night trade. The Charlotte Hornets, owners of the No. 2 pick, are +450 — an 18.2% implied probability.

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said on his podcast on Sunday that Williamson could be moved.

“The Zion thing is a real, real subplot. I had somebody that I trust tell me [Saturday] that he will not be on that [New Orleans Pelicans] team on Thursday. I was like, ‘Really? I haven’t heard that.’ He said, ‘You watch.’ So, there you go on that,” Simmons said on the June 18 episode of The Bill Simmons podcast.

The Hornets prefer Brandon Ingram instead of Williamson, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, in a potential trade to acquire projected top-3 pick Scoot Henderson.

So how will the Knicks land Williamson if they do not have a pick in this year’s draft?

Zach Buckley of the Bleacher Report suggested the Knicks should grease a three-team trade that would land them Williamson; Pelicans get Henderson and a hefty package for the Hornets or Trail Blazers.

“The Knicks, of course, don’t have a top-three pick to dangle, so how could they enter the Williamson sweepstakes? By potentially connecting the dots in a three-team trade. Maybe the teams with top-three picks don’t want all the health risks tied to the 22-year-old.

Perhaps they’d prefer a package from New York built around some combination of RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes and a pile of future first-round picks.

If the Knicks could grease the gears of a multi-team trade that finally brings Williamson to the Big Apple, they should be all over it,” Buckley wrote.

It has been well-documented that Williamson loves New York and his favorite arena is the Madison Square Garden and how the Knicks tanked in 2019 in their hopes of winning the Williamson lottery.

Julius Randle to Be Knicks’ Sacrificial Lamb?

The Knicks’ pursuit of a top-tier star could cost them one of the foundational pieces of their resurgence.

SNY’s Knicks insider Ian Begley believes it will be Julius Randle.

“As noted in the [June 15 The Putback] episode, if the Knicks make a trade for a top player, it seems like they would have to move either [RJ] Barrett or Julius Randle to make it work. If I had to guess, I’d think Barrett’s playoff performance bolsters the odds that he remains in New York in that Randle-or-Barrett scenario,” Begley wrote in his June 16 SNY’s Mailbag.

Naz Reid Linked to Knicks

Minnesota Timberwolves big man Naz Reid, who is set to hit unrestricted free agency, “is a name to keep an eye on if the Knicks move [Mitchell] Robinson or [Isaiah] Hartenstein in a trade,” according to SNY’s Ian Begley.

“…it’s worth noting that Naz Reid has a significant amount of fans within the organization,” Begley added.