The New York Knicks experienced a breakthrough season in 2020–21. However, they were unable to sustain the performance. Their offseason efforts towards offensive improvement were wasted with the struggles of Kemba Walker and the backsliding of Julius Randle.
Additionally, the inconsistent stops by their defenders resulted in their falling out of the top 10. The Knicks have a powerful group of players under 25, led by the 22-year-old RJ Barrett, but they already owe a great deal of money to their veterans and are struggling offensively to create shots.
Here are the five reasons why the New York Knicks are the biggest losers in this year’s NBA Draft.
1. Absurd Decisions of the Front Office
Leon Rose said in a statement that the Knicks’ draft-night trades Thursday created “increased financial flexibility and additional draft capital moving forward.” The statement also acknowledged that the trades will allow the Knicks “to be active in free agency, as well as in the trade market.”
Rose said the focus was to be “strategic and thoughtful in our team building” while “prioritizing our player development program.”
The decision to prioritize signing free agents over rookies seems implausible. Because the rookies they could have signed might have had an impact on the upcoming season.
2. Unable to Utilize The Young Stars
The Knicks are clearly the losers here because they decided to focus on free agency despite being a very broken franchise that arguably should have used its lottery picks to attain more young talents like R.J. Barrett and Obi Toppin. A struggling franchise like the Knicks should have thought about their NBA future, the only range of players that can bring the NBA trophy to their pavilion are the young-bloods scattering throughout the NBA draft.
3. Mismanaging Financial Resources
Freeing up cap space and turning one pick into three undoubtedly illustrates how much financial pressure they are under right now. Moreover, they gave up lottery talent, whereas the Bucks choice is probably going to be weak and the other two are well-protected. To release Kemba Walker from his non-binding $9.2 million contract before it expires simply to have a chance at free agency Jalen Brunson looks like an awful price to pay.
4. Not Signing a Rookie
The New York Knicks had the No. 11 pick going into the night, but they left without picking a first-round rookie to add to their 2022-23 roster. They traded the No. 11 pick in the draft to the Thunder for three first-round picks in the future. Signing a rookie at this point of their NBA journey should have provided them with some fresh hands.
5. Not Giving a F*ck to the Fanbase
The decisions undertaken by the New York Knicks in the 2022 NBA Draft left their fans and followers heartbroken. Stephen A. Smith one of the biggest fans of the franchise said, “Sad Times To Be A Knicks Fan” “The New York Knicks are a disaster; I’m not happy at all”.
The only thing that there is to do now is to laugh at the pain and hope that somehow, someway all of this will work itself out. Let’s take a look at the reactions of the Knicks fans tonight.
draft night in a nutshell pic.twitter.com/WaY192MDxT
— rads (@rads619) June 24, 2022
ME TRYNA FIGURE OUT WTF THE KNICKS DOIN RN pic.twitter.com/QzJpcJNlQR
— THE KID MERO 🇩🇴 (@THEKIDMERO) June 24, 2022
The Knicks have me FLABBERGASTED and BAMBOOZLED
we’ve been SHMECKLEDORFED
— KEST (@AdamKester_) June 24, 2022
