NBA Trades: Knicks add sharpshooting guard in proposed deal with Blazers

The Knicks are definitely better but still have a missing piece.

Since the Anunoby trade, the Knicks have been rolling. They are 6-3 since the move and rank second in the NBA in defensive rating in their last nine games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers. Anunoby has been an impactful player defensively, and offensively, he has been efficient, as he is averaging 14 points and shooting 50 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range.

He has provided consistent efficiency at small forward that the Knicks haven’t had. Unfortunately, it has not been all great for the Knicks, as their bench offense has declined significantly. Since losing Quickley, the Knicks are averaging 25 points per game off the bench. That would put them in the bottom three of the NBA. Take a look at this graph.

The Knicks' bench scoring has been very up and down since trading away their best scorer in Quickley. As good as Quentin Grimes and Josh Hart are, they are not scorers. They need a more consistent scoring presence off the bench to offset that loss, and a veteran do-it-all guard would help them tremendously. Next, we'll take a look at the potential trade.