The New York Knicks made a few headlines on Thursday when they swung a trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Cam Reddish.
On the surface, this seems like a solid deal for the New York side. The Knicks gave up just the seldom-used Kevin Knox II, who has played in 13 total games this season, along with a lottery-protected first-round pick in exchange for Reddish, a second-round pick and the contract of an injured Solomon Hill.
Unless you think Kevin Knox still has untapped potential after three and a half seasons of uninspiring play, the trade is basically a roll of the dice on Reddish in Year 3 of his rookie deal.
Cam Reddish alone brings reason for optimism for the Knicks. He's having his best shooting year thus far, but is also averaging a career low in minutes played due to a crowded Hawks wing rotation. He was a highly touted prospect seen with superstar potential and an expected top-three pick who slipped due to a relatively nondescript season at Duke.
While there were myriad reasons as to why Cam Reddish didn't show out at Duke, two huge ones were the two even bigger prospects on his team: Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett. Zion was seen as a generational prospect and was drafted first overall, yet even he yielded to Barrett as Duke's primary scorer. Although the trio didn't run the table in the NCAA Tournament (Shoutout, Tacko Fall), they did develop a bond as freshman teammates turned brothers.
RJ Barrett just so happens to be Cam Reddish's newest teammate on the New York Knicks. Could it potentially set the stage for a Duke Big 3 reunion in Gotham?
While the trade technically doesn't directly aid the Knicks' rather blatant quest to trade for Zion Williamson, it does indirectly give them the strongest trade chip they could feasibly acquire: FOMO.
As corny as it sounds, the fear of missing out while his close friends try to build something together in New York almost definitely has Zion Williamson giving some serious side eye at what the Knicks have done. The man has openly admitted that the Big Apple also happens to be his favorite city to visit and play in (outside of New Orleans, supposedly).
Now with Zion yet to play a single game midway into his third season, and tensions slowly starting to manifest itself between star and franchise, it's not out of the realm of possibility that trade discussions come in the future.
When that happens, is there going to be any doubt that he and his camp will try to do everything in their power to get the wheels turning on a move to New York? The Pelicans ultimately have the final say, but dealing with the team that Zion is willing to cooperate with usually means a smoother transaction.
There's zero guarantee that anything like that happens, of course. But the Knicks themselves dealt with a similar situation with their own oft-injured franchise cornerstone in Kristaps Porzingis. One minute, he's the savior of their despondent franchise, the next he's forcing a trade and going to a situation he seemed keenly interested in.
The New York Knicks take a small victory for their on-court product with the Cam Reddish trade. But the tiny seeds this adds to the inevitable Zion Williamson courtship down the line could prove to be much more valuable.
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