Prior to the New Orleans Pelicans trading Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, he had provided his former franchise with a list of preferred destinations to be traded to and the New York Knicks were included.
According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Knicks didn't end up making a serious pursuit of Davis because he didn't fit with their ‘long-range plan.' That was despite the fact that Davis was one of the few superstars interested in playing for their franchise.
Unlike other major stars recently, Davis had expressed interest in playing for the Knicks. But Mills and Perry told people they were turned off by the Pelicans’ high asking price of multiple first-round picks plus multiple young players, even though the Knicks had that type of package thanks to their Porzingis trade. They said it would have undercut their long-range plan of building through the draft and developing picks into stars.
It is unclear what the Knicks' plans are for roster construction. However, at the time, they seemed convinced they were going to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency and they were still hoping to win the grand prize of Zion Williamson in the NBA Draft.
Per Frank Isola of The Athletic, the Knicks' management was ‘stunned and depressed' after failing to land Durant and Irving. With that sort of reaction, it seems reasonable to assume that this was their grand plan after all. They even traded Kristaps Porziņģis to clear the necessary cap space to land those superstars.
“The Knicks dream scenario last spring following a 17-win season was to win the Draft Lottery and select Zion. They had the best chance but the NBA's revised lottery system had other ideas as New Orleans defied the odds.
When free agency approached, the Knicks were optimistic that the worst season in franchise history would be saved by Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant coming to the Garden. The two marquee free agents also had other ideas and chose the Brooklyn Nets.
While the Knicks have spun this notion that they didn't want meetings with either player — as well as Kawhi Leonard — a team source insists that management was ‘stunned and depressed' when they learned that Irving and Durant picked the other team in town.”
The Knicks made a lot of questionable decisions in free agency with all of the salary cap space that they had created. They ended the summer with a free agency haul of Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton, Wayne Ellington, and Reggie Bullock.
It seems that any plan for the Knicks will only succeed if young players like R.J. Barrett, Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, Dennis Smith Jr., and Frank Ntilikina manage to further their development as players in the future.
In the meantime, the Knicks should have no shortage of storylines surrounding them such as it being ‘inevitable' that they will fire head coach David Fizdale.
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