The Knicks could have simply received one other draft day transfer.
The Washington Wizards chosen standout French prospect Alex Sarr with the No. 2 total decide of the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday.
Sarr was projected to go No. 1 total earlier than flat-out refusing to exercise for the Atlanta Hawks, who in the end chosen Zaccharie Risacher on the prime of the draft.
Which implies the Wizards got here up on a participant who shouldn’t have been obtainable second, and consequently, the Knicks could obtain a further first-round decide in 2025 they weren’t anticipating to convey subsequent season.
That’s as a result of the Knicks personal the Wizards’ top-10 protected first-round decide in 2025.
The Wizards initially traded a lottery-protected 2023 first-round decide to the Houston Rockets within the Russell Westbrook deal of 2020. The decide had loosening protections following years it didn’t convey: top-12 protected in 2024, top-10 in 2025 and top-eight in 2026, in any other case turning into a pair of second-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
The Rockets traded the Wizards decide to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder for the rights to Alperen Sengun, and the Thunder then dealt three protected first-round picks from the Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets to the Knicks for Ousmane Dieng, the No. 11 decide within the 2022 NBA Draft.
Dieng has logged minimal minutes on a Thunder group angling to compete for a championship.
The Pistons decide is top-13 protected in 2025, top-11 protected in 2026 and top-nine protected in 2027 earlier than turning into a pair of second-round picks in 2027 and 2028.
The Knicks traded the Denver decide to the Charlotte Hornets as a part of the three-team deal that helped offload Kemba Walker’s wage in 2022.
The Pistons chosen Ron Holland II fifth-overall in Wednesday’s first spherical, however he isn’t anticipated to elevate Detroit from its standing because the worst group in then NBA.
SARR COULD MOVE THE NEEDLE
The Wizards completed with the second-worst file in all of basketball final season with a 15-67 file, however Sarr’s arrival may sign a flip within the tide for a group that fell approach beneath expectations in a disappointing season final 12 months.
Sarr joins two succesful franchise cornerstones in Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole. Each Kuzma and Poole have received NBA titles, Kuzma with the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, and Poole as a member of the 2022 Golden State Warriors.
The Wizards additionally made a training change, transferring head coach Wes Unseld Jr. right into a entrance workplace position and changing him with former Nets assistant Brian Keefe.
Washington is now a possible risk to maneuver ever-so barely up the Jap Convention standings, particularly given the Nets are all-out tanking after buying and selling Mikal Bridges to the Knicks.
It’s not a given.
In spite of everything, the Wizards will need to stop this decide from conveying and will simply accomplish that by deliberately throwing video games — tanking — towards the underside of the standings.
But if Sarr — a seven-foot ahead who can shoot the three, defend a number of positions and put the ball on the ground — is the generational expertise some proclaim him to be, then he may elevate the Wizards from the underside of the standings into the center.
Which is precisely the place the Knicks need the Wizards for the 2025 first-round decide to convey.