NBA Trade Grades: Hornets to snag Willy Hernangomez from Knicks

New York Knicks

As a rookie last year, Hernangomez averaged 8.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in just 18.4 minutes per game, earning All-Rookie First Team honors. Less than a year later, he’s being shipped off to Charlotte for two second round picks and salary cap filler.

No matter how well Enes Kanter and Kyle O’Quinn were playing this year, that’s poor asset management.

In his second season, Hernangomez’s numbers had dropped to 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per game, playing in only 25 of New York’s 54 games this year.

The Knicks were never going to get a first round pick for their rarely used 23-year-old in such a tight market that’s more hesitant than ever to include draft compensation for unproven commodities, but this is embarrassing work all around.

Some of the blame goes to Jeff Hornacek, who refused to give Hernangomez significant minutes after such a promising rookie year. Some goes to Kanter and O’Quinn, who have admittedly played very well for the Knicks this year. Some goes to the old regime in the front office, who stacked the deck at the 5 with Kanter, O’Quinn, Hernangomez and Joakim Noah (and that’s saying nothing of Kristaps Porzingis, who should be a 5 in the prime of his career).

However, with the Knicks sliding further and further from the Eastern Conference playoff picture, the focus needed to start shifting toward developing the younger players like KP, Tim Hardaway Jr., Frank Ntilikina, Damyean Dotson and especially Hernangomez.

To trade him less than 24 hours after Porzingis’ season-ending injury, which should have all but sealed New York’s reroute to develop the youth rather than gun for the playoffs, is infuriating.

The Unicorn hardly played center, so minutes for Hernangomez weren’t suddenly going to fall from the sky with him sidelined, but O’Quinn was drawing interest on the trade market and the team has been pushing for a separation from Noah for some time now.

Second round draft picks are more valuable than people realize, but very rarely do they yield NBA-caliber prospects. The Knicks should probably recognize that better than anyone, since Hernangomez himself was a second round pick.

The mere concept of moving Willy Hernangomez in a rebuilding year — just hours after that rebuild was reinforced by an injury that kills the team’s playoff aspirations — is a losing one, and that’s before you remember his close relationship with Porzingis, or the fact that trading a player who wanted more minutes to an even more crowded frontcourt does little for the organization’s reputation.

Knicks gonna Knick.

Grade: F