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The New York Knicks took a lot of grief for signing point guard Jalen Brunson this offseason and giving him a four-year, $104 million contract. The lead guard has been excellent so far this season, though. He’s third on the team in minutes (32.7), second in points (20.0) and steals (1.2), and first in assists (6.9) per game. However, Brunson’s emergence has created another problem in New York. They now have too many point guards, and veteran Derrick Rose and youngster Immanuel Quickley are losing minutes because of this fact. Recent Knicks trade rumors suggest the team is willing to trade Quickley or Rose, and because the younger prospect has a lot more value on the trade market than the 34-year-old Rose, an Immanuel Quickley trade would bring the Knicks a lot more value in return. With that in mind, here are the three best Immanuel Quickley trade destinations.
These trade destinations are based on the places that are best for Quickley but also make sense for the Knicks due to what they would get in return. Quickley only makes $2.3 million in year three of his rookie deal, so trading the guard for a big-name, star, veteran player is pretty much out of the question. What the Knicks will hope for by dealing their young PG is that they can get back another young, relatively cheap player who can help the team immediately in their biggest area of needs. That means a big with a little more scoring pop than Isaiah Hartenstein (6.9 ppg) or a wing shooter to help the team improve its 28th-ranked 32% 3-point percentage.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers need to shake things up at 3-10, and if they can make a move without having to trade their two remaining first-round picks, that would be ideal for the future of the franchise.
This Lakers-Knicks trade would be Immanuel Quickley for sharpshooting forward Matt Ryan and center Thomas Bryant. One note on this, though. It couldn’t happen until December 14, as that is the first day Ryan is eligible to be in a trade.
For the Lakers, point guards Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverly seem to be washed. Adding Quickley — a defense-first, athletic PG who can score — would be akin to adding a player who is similar to, and somewhere in between, Westbrook and Beverley in their primes.
As for the Knicks, these 25-year-olds would fit right into the rotation and help the team. Ryan is shooting 41.9% from deep this season, and Bryant is about to return from an injury that has kept him out the first month of the season. The former Indiana Hoosier center can score when healthy, though. In his best season (2019-20) he averaged 13.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Washington Wizards
The Wizards are another possible Immanuel Quickley trade destination that would be a good fit for the player and bring back a piece that would help the Knicks.
In this Knicks trade, the Wizards get Quickley, and the Knicks get second-year pro Corey Kispert.
This is a prospect-for-prospect trade that allows Washington and New York to relieve some pressure at positions where they have a glut of players, and each improves a bit in the process.
The Wizards' PG situation is uninspiring at best. Monte Morris and Will Barton are decent offensive ball-handlers and scorers, but the team’s best perimeter defender, Delon Wright, is out for at least another month or so with a hamstring injury.
Quickley would come in immediately and be the best overall player in this rotation, and when Wright comes back, he'd give the Wizards a dominant defensive guard duo to take pressure off Bradley Beal on that side of the ball.
Kispert is a knockdown shooter, hitting at a 40% rate this season. On the Wizards, he’s buried behind Beal, Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija, and even Anthony Gil. On the Knicks, he would get more minutes as their primary corner-3 specialist.
Minnesota Timberwolves
The last of the best Immanuel Quickley trade destinations is the Timberwolves. The team went all-in on the 2022-23 season by giving up a massive ransom to the Jazz for Rudy Gobert. However, thanks in large part to poor guard play from D’Angelo Russell, the team is just 7-8 so far.
This Knicks trade would be Quickley for center Naz Reid, and New York would get its 2023 second-round pick back, which the Timberwolves currently own.
This might not be the best haul for the Knicks, but it clears out the PG spot, gets a pick in return, and adds Reid, who is a rough-and-tumble center who can score a bit more than Hartenstein (7.6 ppg in just 12 mpg) and will bring tremendous toughness to the team.
As for Quickley, he could take some of Russell’s minutes or even play in a three-guard, two-big lineup with Russell, Gobert, Anthony Edwards, and Karl-Anthony Towns. The young guard would get plenty of time in Minnesota and possibly be exactly what the team needs to jumpstart the Gobert-Towns Era.
