9th Pick
The Knicks seem to be one of those teams who seems to be perpetually stuck within the mid-to-late lottery, never bad enough to land a top-5 pick, yet never good enough to not only make the playoffs, but make it past the first round. Some talking heads have erroneously said in the past that the Phoenix Suns are wasting Devin Booker’s youth, on the contrary, the New York Knicks are wasting Kristaps Porzingis’, and doesn’t seem to have any real direction to get him the talent necessary to win before his contract is extended, and the Knicks start losing cap space.
While I would love more than anything to come up with a trade scenario that lands Porzingis in a Suns uniform while also keeping Booker and Josh Jackson here, as well as Deandre Ayton and the first overall pick, alas, I see no such avenue. That being said, they can snag a point guard by swapping out mid-round picks while giving Porzingis some additional young talent to help New York get out of mediocre draft spots and into the Eastern Conference playoffs.
T.J. Warren immediately steps in as the best small forward on the roster, and second best scorer as well. The Knicks still get a mid-first round pick who may/may not pan out, and the Suns get the 9th overall pick which will get them a point guard. That being said, while both Collin Sexton might still be available and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander definitely will be, there is a chance that Michael Porter Jr. has slid this far as well, which for the Suns, could be a steal.