New York Knicks: The post-trade deadline outlook for the Knicks

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone for the New York Knicks, what is the outlook for the rest of their season after trading Marcus Morris?

On the day of the trade deadline, New York Knicks were able to trade Marcus Morris to the LA Clippers. The Knicks received Maurice “Mo” Harkless, the Clippers’ 2020 first-round pick and the Clippers’ 2021 second-round pick (via the Detroit Pistons). The Knicks also received swap rights to the Clippers 2021 first-rounder and the rights to Issuf Sanon (Washington Wizards‘ 2018 second-round pick) who is currently playing in Ukraine.

As I wrote previously, the Morris trade was something that needed to be done. He was going to be a free agent this offseason with no guarantee of returning. Also, he was not on the same timeline as the team’s young core based on his age (30 years old). Lastly, the New York Knicks are a rebuilding team, so collecting draft picks and young players should be their strategy to develop a contending franchise.

However, trading Mook was not the only event that occurred during this time. Former team president, Steve Mills, was released two days before the trade deadline, making Scott Perry the interim team president and general manager. Also, on the day of the trade deadline, Leon Rose was announced as the next team president of the franchise. Granted, there was no official team statement announcing their hirings.

Recently, Steve Stoute, the “branding consultant” who was hired by the Knicks, went on ESPN’s “First Take” and spoke on the teams necessary changes. He essentially told everyone on First Take that for this team to be successful they had to fire Mills. He then went on to say that the New York Knicks must hire a new head coach and be capable of signing big-time free agents.

Stoute clearly went above and beyond his job description in this moment and embarrassed the Knicks by making these claims. It was so bad that Knicks personal relations had to release a statement clarifying that Stoute has no say in hiring team personnel.

(Whoever works the Knicks PR account needs to get a raise for all the nonsense they have to encounter).

With these comments and changes, there is a lot of uncertainty for the Knickerbockers’ future. But one thing is for certain, and that is the rest of this season is essentially a tryout period for head coach Mike Miller and the players.