One Trade Still Haunts Knicks

The New York Knicks have come a long way since the dark days of the 2000s (okay, and most of the 2010s, too), as they are now legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference.

But before the Knicks reached this point, they had to take more than enough of their fair share of lumps.

New York has made plenty of bad trades over the years. We all know this, and we don’t have to rehash every single one of them. But, Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley has singled out one deal in particular that still haunts the Knicks to this day: the Andrea Bargnani trade.

Back in July 2013, New York sent Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a first-round pick and a couple of second-rounders to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Bargnani, and Buckley broke it down.

“Bargnani, the top pick in 2006, already looked like a bona fide bust when this July 2013 deal went down, yet the ‘Bockers still deemed him worthy of sacrificing depth pieces, a future first and two second-rounders,” he wrote.

While the players the Knicks sent to the Raptors certainly weren’t all that significant, the fact that they parted with three draft picks for a clear bust was simply an awful decision.

In his first season with New York (’13-’14), Bargnani averaged 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 44.2/27.8/82.4 shooting splits, and the following year (’14-’15), he logged 14.8 points and 4.4 boards while making 45.5 percent of his shots from the field and 36.6 percent of his triples.

But here’s the real kicker: Bargnani played in a grand total of 61 games over those two campaigns.

The trade happened over a decade ago, but it encapsulates just how inept the Knicks really were throughout that time period.

Hopefully, New York can continue its upward climb.

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