NBA Trade Grades: Knicks add Emmanuel Mudiay in 3-team deal
New York Knicks
There are two ways you can view this trade for the New York Knicks. On the one hand, they’re taking a low-risk flier on a young floor general who could just need a change of scenery. On the other hand, they just gave up the best player in this deal for a perceived draft bust, and one who puts further pressure on Jeff Hornacek to properly manage his rotations.
When Kristaps Porzingis went down for the season, the focus shifted from an ill-fated playoff pursuit to getting the youngsters ample minutes. The Knicks’ trade of Willy Hernangomez ran counterintuitive to that agenda, but at least it helped clear out some of the logjam at center.
Unfortunately, this trade just creates another one, only this time at point guard. How is Hornacek going to distribute minutes between the incoming Mudiay, the veteran Jarrett Jack, the surprising Trey Burke and the rookie Frank Ntilikina, whose minutes have already been scarce enough?
If the Knicks decide to move on from Jack and believe Mudiay and Ntilikina can play together, great. If not, this is another potential obstruction to Frank’s playing time.
Gonna throw something out there, guys: if you're gonna be bad, it's OK to play multiple young players with pedigree. Mudiay can back up Frank and/or play alongside him. If McDermott wasn't in their plans, it's a nice roll of the dice for a year-plus. https://t.co/GjCniBcH7A
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) February 8, 2018
McDermott deserved more minutes than he got in the Big Apple, but as a restricted free agent this summer, he wasn’t viewed as a long-term piece. Mudiay isn’t a restricted free agent until 2019, which gives the Knicks a whole season and a half to test him out.
To that end, shipping McDermott away for the chance at a flier on this 21-year-old point guard is worth it, even if there are questions about how Mudiay and Ntilikina fit together (assuming that’s what the team even plans to do).
Smart trade by the Knicks, buying low on a young, athletic PG in Mudiay while only giving up McDermott, who wasn’t a long-term piece https://t.co/rDlQjhXO0e
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) February 8, 2018
There’s just one problem: To this point in his career, Emmanuel Mudiay has been an extremely bad basketball player.
Mudiay is posting career lows across the board this season, aside from his 37.3 percent shooting from 3-point range. He might be able to run the pick-and-roll one day, but he’s extremely turnover-prone and ranks as one of the worst defenders in the league.
imagine thinking Emmanuel Mudiay is better than Doug McDermott
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) February 8, 2018
For a player struggling to get his NBA career started, Mudiay’s reported aversion to dealing with the media does not bode well for a massive market like New York.
That doesn’t mean he’s doomed for failure by any stretch — a change of scenery might help, and if the Knicks can figure out how to combine Mudiay’s court vision and ball-handling with Ntilikina’s defense and spot-up shooting, this could be quite a nice pairing for the long-term.
However, that’s quite a lot of “if”s, and given his wonky rotations this year, Hornacek has hardly earned anyone’s trust to be the one who figures it out. The Knicks aren’t risking anything here, especially since McDermott was a non-essential piece, but this move could very easily flame out as well.
Next: 2017-18 Week 17 NBA Power Rankings
Grade: B