The New York Knicks came out of the 2019 NBA Draft with two new players. We hand out some grades for the selections and an overall grade for the class as a whole.
The New York Knicks entered the 2019 offseason with some lofty expectations. The organization is hopeful it will make vast improvements to the roster this summer to help turn around a team that has had six consecutive losing seasons and has won at least half of their games in a season only five times this century.
While some of those expectations may have to be tempered because of injuries, the 2019 NBA Draft provided the first chance to improve the team, and that is exactly what the Knicks did. Fans should be excited, as the team stayed the course and selected Duke forward R.J. Barrett with the third overall pick.
Earlier in the week, there were reports of the Knicks talking about trades, and that did happen on draft night. However, none of the trades that were discussed earlier in the week came to fruition. New York turned down an offer from the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, and Frank Ntilikina was being shopped for a pick but remained on the roster through the draft.
Instead, the Knicks and Sacramento Kings completed a trade on draft night. New York moved up the No. 47 overall pick, selecting Ignas Brazdeikis from Michigan. In exchange, the Kings received the No. 55 overall pick, which was used on Kyle Guy from Virginia.
Sacramento sent this No. 47 pick to the Knicks, received New York's No. 55, sources said. https://t.co/efZX8UEh2p
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 21, 2019
How did the orange and blue do in this year’s draft? Let’s take a deeper look at the selections and moves made and hand out some grades.