Knicks, Nets Involved in Draft Day Mock Trade

The New York Knicks have two late first-round picks to work with in next week’s NBA Draft, while their rivals and neighbors, the Brooklyn Nets, don’t have any.

As a rebuilding team, this could be a problem for the Nets, who unsuccessfully pushed all their chips in on the future with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, only for none of it to work in their favor.

That’s why the Nets could be interested in trading back into the draft this year, and Bleacher Report writer Dan Favale pitches a trade that could do just that. In the deal, the Nets get both the Nos. 24 and 25 picks from the Knicks in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick from the Phoenix Suns, which Brooklyn got in the Durant blockbuster deal.

“The Knicks should be very interested in keeping at least one of their firsts. Adding someone under cost control for the next four years is a potentially gargantuan deal with Isaiah Hartenstein (Early Bird) and OG Anunoby entering free agency and with new contracts for the extension-eligible Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle on the horizon,” Favale writes. “At the same time, though, converting Nos. 24 and 25 into a 2025 pick sheds immediate salary (about $5.8 million) that could prove valuable as they look to navigate life (presumably) beneath the second apron and arms them with a first-rounder in a better draft to either keep or dangle in blockbuster-trade talks.”

This deal helps the Nets bring in talent into the building this year while also giving the Knicks some financial relief going into a very important free agency period.

The Knicks have the opportunity to pick a prospect or two late in the first round, but if they defer these picks to next year, they could cash in to what should be a better draft class. The 2024 class is considered to be one of the weaker ones in recent memory, so one 2025 pick may end up being more valuable than two late first-round picks this year.

The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft starts Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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