The players won’t say it outright.
There’s too much pride in the Madison Square Garden home locker room to admit, “we need help.”
Yet, the cracks are visible.
With each loss, with each glaring shortcoming from a thin New York Knicks bench, it’s clear: this team needs a trade to keep their championship aspirations alive.
The warning signs have been there.
The Knicks have lost four of their last five games, exposing troubling vulnerabilities. Against the league’s elite — the top four seeds in both the East and West — the Knicks are just 2-5, underscoring the gap between so-called contenders and pretenders, the discrepancy between New York’s current form and true NBA title contention.
Friday’s 25-point blowout by a surging Oklahoma City Thunder team, a legitimate threat to the championship throne, showcased the troubling norm for opponents exploiting New York’s lack of reliable bench depth.
No team has relied more heavily on its starting five than the Knicks.
That over-reliance has taken a toll. It’s clear the starters are wearing down at a rate that one off day between games cannot fix.
Meanwhile, the bench remains woefully underutilized. After Precious Achiuwa, Deuce McBride, Landry Shamet, and Cam Payne, the Knicks’ reserves are full of youth and inexperience, players who have yet to prove they can handle meaningful minutes in high-stakes situations.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau traditionally does not expand his rotation beyond nine players. He is historically even more hesitant to do so for players who lack a track record of impacting winning at the professional level.
Even the anticipated return of Mitchell Robinson, still recovering from two surgeries on the same ankle, provides only cautious optimism. If Robinson returns, he’ll be thrust into the fire, and if he gets burned — if he gets hurt again — there may not be any coming back.
The strain on the starting five is mounting.
They’ve bent and bent all season long, but this is the closest this roster has come to breaking.
Yet, if there’s a silver lining in it all, it’s this: The Leon Rose-led front office has built a reputation as masters of in-season trades and doctors of reading the room.
Over the past four seasons, New York’s front office has been aggressive in making the necessary mid-season deals to keep the team on track to reach its goal.
The goal, after surrendering five draft picks and overseeing one of the largest payrolls in basketball, is undoubtedly a championship.
When history shows a pattern, it’s worth examining — and the Knicks’ trade history offers a roadmap for what might come next.
Feb. 8, 2021 — Knicks acquire Derrick Rose
THE DEAL
Knicks receive: Derrick Rose
Pistons receive: Dennis Smith Jr., 2021 second-round pick via Charlotte
The Knicks were stuck in mud, particularly due to poor play at the point guard spot. Dennis Smith Jr. and Elfrid Payton weren’t getting the job done, and while Immanuel Quickley was a promising rookie, he was too green to carry significant responsibilities, especially under a coach averse to playing young guys pressure minutes like Thibodeau.
So the Knicks front office identified a player Thibodeau trusted: Derrick Rose, who became the youngest MVP in league history under Thibs while carrying the Chicago Bulls to deep playoff runs.
The Knicks needed a veteran with poise, someone who could complement Julius Randle’s All-Star breakout and steady the young roster.
Derrick Rose checked every box.
He brought shot creation, leadership, and the ability to close games in crunch time. The impact was immediate.
Derrick Rose revitalized his career in New York, averaging nearly 15 points per game off the bench and shot a career-high 41% from three.
The Knicks were 11-14 before the deal. They went 30-17 after Derrick Rose’s arrival, salvaging what looked like a lost year to finish 41-31 in a COVID-19 shortened season.
The move helped the Knicks make their first playoff appearance in eight years. It epitomized the New York front office’s ability to assess a team’s needs and directly address them mid-season via trade.
Feb. 9, 2023 — Josh Hart traded to New York
THE DEAL
Knicks receive: Josh Hart
Portland Trail Blazers receive: Cam Reddish, Ryan Arcidiacono, Svi Mykhailiuk, protected first-round pick
If the Cam Reddish trade was a swing and a miss, the acquisition of Josh Hart the following year was a home run. Hart’s arrival transformed the Knicks overnight.
His relentless motor, defensive versatility, and ability to crash the boards gave the team a new identity.
Plus his arrival ushered in an era of Villanova basketball at Madison Square Garden. After pairing Jalen Brunson with Hart, the Knicks went on to sign Donte DiVincenzo in free agency. They later acquired Mikal Bridges from the Nets, though they offloaded DiVincenzo last summer in the deal for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Hart was a seamless fit next to Brunson and provided timely shooting and playmaking. The Knicks immediately went on a nine-game winning streak after his arrival and went 17-8 in games he appeared in after the trade.
New York went on to clinch a playoff spot and won their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The front office knew their team needed new life and identified Hart as the player whose grit and hustle embodied the team’s culture shift.
It was a trade that elevated the Knicks from a fringe playoff team to legitimate threat at a second-round appearance.
Dec. 30, 2023 — Knicks go all-in on OG Anunoby
THE DEAL
Knicks receive: OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, Malachi Flynn
Toronto Raptors receive: R.J. Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, 2024 second-round pick via Detroit
Two things were clear at the end of 2023: R.J. Barrett was not a good fit alongside Brunson and Randle in the Knicks’ starting five, and New York was not going to pay Quickley the money he wanted. Not with Brunson’s contract extension looming.
So the Knicks and Raptors agreed to a deal sending OG Anunoby to New York. The deal reshaped the Knicks’ defensive identity and turned them into contenders overnight.
The drawback, of course, was Anunoby’s status as a pending unrestricted free agent. Under threat of walking away in free agency, and thus trading their two key young players for nothing, the Knicks were forced to meet Anunoby’s demands: a franchise-record five-year, $212.5 million deal.
Only time will tell whether or not the deal was a hit or a miss. Anunoby is one of the more dominant defensive players in all of basketball, but he is the last option on offense and has a troubling injury history.
The Knicks also received Achiuwa, who waived his no-trade clause to re-sign with the Knicks this season. His $6 million contract is one of few trade chips the front office now has to bolster its roster.
Feb. 8, 2024 — Depleted Knicks call in the cavalry
THE DEAL
Knicks receive: Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks
Pistons receive: Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono, two second-round picks
By February 2024, injuries had derailed the Knicks’ momentum.
Randle (shoulder), Robinson (ankle), and Anunoby (elbow) were sidelined, leaving the team desperate for reinforcements.
So the Knicks front office turned back to the Pistons. They acquired seasoned veterans, including a player Thibodeau trusted in Alec Burks, who had success playing under Thibodeau in the Knicks before.
This was a move born out of necessity, designed to stabilize a worn-down roster and inject much-needed scoring and bench depth. It sounds a lot like the situation the team is staring down today.
Bojan Bogdanović, a proven bucket-getter, stepped in as a reliable offensive weapon, though he struggled to find his footing and ultimately suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the first round of the playoffs.
Burks provided versatility and stability off the bench, but he, too, found himself out of the rotation by the end of the season.
Yet the deal had two-fold impact: First, the Knicks put bodies on the roster Thibodeau trusted to use right away. Second, they bolstered their bench in the hopes that their injured players would make a return.
The Knicks finished the season 50-32, and the trade underscored the front office’s ability to act decisively in the face of adversity, addressing pressing needs while keeping the team competitive.
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The Knicks’ history of in-season trades since Leon Rose’s arrival paints a clear picture of a front office unafraid to act when the team needs a boost.
As the current roster bends under the weight of injuries and over-reliance on its starters, the question isn’t if the Knicks will make a move — it’s when.
The blueprint is there, and history suggests that this front office will once again take action.
It won’t be easy, not by a long shot, but New York’s championship hopes hinge on more bodies coming to rescue a starting lineup on dead legs before the midway point of the season.
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