The Knicks may use one other playmaker. And one of many best table-setters the game has ever seen simply hit the open market.
Sure, it’s Chris Paul — the first-ballot Corridor of Famer whose Clippers reunion barely lasted 16 video games.
Los Angeles primarily reduce ties with Paul late Tuesday night time, citing that he had been too vocal in holding the entrance workplace, teaching employees and teammates accountable for a 5–16 begin.
On paper, accountability doesn’t sound just like the worst factor for a Knicks crew that has preached it every day beneath Mike Brown. Brown has been open about his personal missteps — together with publicly taking blame for beginning Mitchell Robinson over Josh Hart, a reversal that instantly sparked a four-game win streak — and the group has embraced that stage of inside honesty.
Then there’s the apparent basketball match. Paul continues to be one of many sharpest playmakers to ever contact a basketball. He ranks second all-time in each assists (12,552) and steals (2,728), and even in 12 months 21 owns an assist-to-turnover ratio north of 3-to-1. A passer that clear, that intuitive, may immediately slot into the Knicks’ offensive ecosystem: feeding Mitchell Robinson on lobs, discovering Karl-Anthony Cities as a pop or roll possibility, and unlocking cutters who generally vanish within the pace-and-space chaos.
And but… that model of Paul feels extra like historical historical past.
He turned 40 in Might. His manufacturing — 2.9 factors and three.3 assists on 32.1% capturing in quarter-hour per recreation — is the statistical profile of a task participant whose wine is now not ageing to perfection. The defensive drop-off is anticipated, however nonetheless important. The Knicks are already compensating for one undersized guard defensively; including one other invitations extra issues than options.
Even when New York needed to make the leap, the mechanics are messy.
The Clippers are hard-capped on the first apron ($195.9M) with greater than $194M dedicated. The Knicks are hard-capped on the second apron ($207.8M) with roughly $150,000 of area beneath it.
Put merely: any Paul deal would require dollar-for-dollar matching. On the veteran minimal, meaning sending out a younger participant — Tyler Kolek, Ariel Hukporti, or Pacome Dadiet — assuming the Knicks deal with Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson’s minimal offers as off-limits in the sort of transaction.
Paul may not be the fitting match. However the want is actual.
The Knicks by no means changed Malcolm Brogdon after his sudden retirement in coaching camp, and their present backcourt hierarchy displays that gap. Jalen Brunson is a scoring guard who can go when wanted. Miles McBride is an off-ball guard being requested to moonlight on the level. Clarkson is a bucket-getter, not an organizer. Kolek is the purest passer on the roster, however he’s not prepared for high-stress minutes.
Paul — like most summer time signees — can’t be traded till Dec. 15. However his cellphone will ring. Any crew in search of a stabilizer, a veteran voice, a high-IQ connector will a minimum of make the decision.
The query isn’t whether or not Paul can run an offense for half-hour. He doesn’t have to. The query is whether or not he can survive in a system constructed on tempo and area, and whether or not he can nonetheless convert from downtown if groups depart him open.
Oh, and whether or not or not he can defend.
If the Knicks needed him, they’d solely want him in small, strategic doses: 5 minutes right here, 4 minutes there, simply sufficient to maintain the offense intact when Brunson sits.
The match isn’t excellent. The questions are actual. However the want — for a real playmaker — stays loud. It may not be with CP3, however the Knicks may use one other playmaker prior to later, and among the finest of all-time simply hit the open market.
