Livescore
As the smoke cleared from the Jimmy Butler deal, not much had changed for the Knicks on the trade front:
– As of Wednesday night, the club was not in significant talks on any Mitchell Robinson trades (as noted on The Putback); so barring an unforeseen, unlikely change of plans in the next 18 hours, Robinson will be a Knick past the 3 p.m. deadline.
– We’ve talked over the past few days about the Knicks moving Jericho Sims. That deal happened late Wednesday night, with the Knicks moving Sims to Milwaukee in exchange for Delon Wright.
The full trade details, as SNY reported, had the Knicks sending Sims and the draft rights to Mathias Lessort to Milwaukee in exchange for Wright, the draft rights to Hugo Besson and cash considerations.
Sims will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Knicks clearly did not plan to re-sign him. New York had been talking to teams on and off about Sims since the 2024 offseason. Some members of the Rockets organization are fans of Sims and had interest but I didn’t get the sense that there was a big market for Sims.
The trade doesn’t change much for the Knicks financially. According to Yossi Gozlan, New York saved a little under $5,000 in the transaction. They could free up some more salary if Wright agreed to a buyout. But that seems highly unlikely. If they don’t make any other moves, the Knicks will be able to add a veteran free agent to the roster on March 1. They are hard-capped at the second apron but will have enough room under the apron to add a veteran on a pro-rated contract at that time. I would assume that TJ Warren and Chuma Okeke would get some consideration for the spot. Both have played well for the Westchester Knicks this season.
A few other situations to monitor on Thursday:
– The Chicago Bulls were still holding a high price for big man Nikola Vucevic earlier Wednesday. They were looking for a package that included a first-round pick that wasn’t heavily protected/a pick that didn’t turn into multiple second-rounders if it didn’t convey. Vucevic had drawn interest from several teams in the days leading up to the deadline.
– Several teams have talked to the Grizzlies about deals involving veteran point guard Marcus Smart. Those talks will likely continue into Thursday. Smart, 30, is under contract through next season ($21.5 million); the Grizzlies have a few financial decisions to make this offseason, among them re-signing Santi Aldama. The club would obviously want to bring Aldama back. Jaren Jackson Jr. is also eligible for an extension that would start in 2026-27. Memphis also talked to Chicago about Lonzo Ball before the Bulls signed him to a two-year $20 million extension, as ESPN reported.
-Orlando was among a group of teams talking to Chicago about Coby White earlier this week, per sources familiar with the matter.
Read the full article here
Discussion about this post