The New York Knicks still need a focal point; a young star around which they can build their team.

RJ Barrett doesn't seem to be that guy. They've taken flyers on Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr., and Kevin Knox, but none seem to have star potential. Mitchell Robinson was a steal in the second round and should be a good player for a while, but he's not the type of player around which you can build a team. LaMelo Ball might be that type of player and the Knicks may just have enough assets to trade up and get him in the draft.

On the daily Locked On Knicks Podcast, host Gavin Schall and Alex Wolfe discussed several scenarios where LaMelo Ball could fall to the Knicks, but the most likely scenario involves a trade up with the Atlanta Hawks.

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Gavin Schall: I think if LaMelo gets to six, both Detroit and New York will already have scenarios worked out with Atlanta. Then Atlanta will just have to pick which trade they prefer between the two. The dream scenario for the Knicks is if Detroit for some reason isn't willing to give up a ton, and they don't really want to mortgage anything with 2021. The Knicks can just trade the Clippers 2020 pick to move up two spots, which on in a vacuum is very fair because Atlanta still walks away with one of Isaac Okoro or Devin Vassell. …

However, if LaMelo's at six, they are going to be teams all throughout the first round giving up future picks and young players for it. All of a sudden, there's going to be like a feeding frenzy to try to get up to that pick. So I'm not sure if the Knicks could get away with only offering the Clippers pick. I think they would have to give up the Clippers pick and the Mavs pick next year or the Mavs pick in 2023. Or if you're the Knicks, all of a sudden, you're gonna have to put a protected 2021 pick on the table, which is where it starts getting pretty iffy.