虎扑体育网

Knicks go wild on draft night, acquire three future first-rounders

New York was at the center of a series of trades during the first round of Thursday's draft that not only created additional cap space but also boosted its stock of future first-rounders for moves yet to come.

Although the three trades were technically separate, let's discuss them together with New York as a focal point.

New York Knicks get:

2023 first-round pick (from Detroit via Oklahoma City; top-18 protected)

2023 first-round pick (from Washington, via Oklahoma City; top-14 protected)

2025 first-round pick (from Milwaukee, via Detroit; top-four protected)

Detroit Pistons get:

Jalen Duren (No. 13 pick in 2022)

Kemba Walker

Charlotte Hornets get:

2023 first-round pick (from Denver, via Oklahoma City and New York; top-14 protected)

Three 2023 second-round picks (via New York, Utah and Dallas or Miami)

2024 second-round pick (via New York)

Oklahoma City Thunder get:

Ousmane Dieng (No. 11 pick in 2022)

New York Knicks: B+

Let's start with the cap piece of this for the Knicks. Shedding this year's No. 11 pick (with a cap hold of $4.5 million) and Walker (due to make $9.2 million in the final season of his contract), New York has gone from entering the draft projecting right around the $122 million cap estimate to suddenly having a modest amount of room.

If the Knicks waive Taj Gibson, whose $5.16 million salary for 2022-23 is non-guaranteed, they could create $16 million in cap room while retaining Bird rights to re-sign unrestricted free agent Mitchell Robinson. That leaves New York one key move away from an offer that could make the Dallas Mavericks think twice about re-signing guard Jalen Brunson.

By trading either Alec Burks or Nerlens Noel, the Knicks would create more than $24 million in cap room, enough to make Brunson a four-year offer well north of $100 million. Given Burks recently underwent foot surgery (as first reported by Fred Katz of The Athletic) while Noel was limited to 25 games last season, that will likely require additional draft compensation. That's where the future picks New York added might come in.

In exchange for the No. 11 pick, the Knicks got three 2023 first-rounders from Oklahoma City with varying degrees of protection. The one they flipped to the Hornets, originally from the Denver Nuggets, is easily the most likely to convey next year but has the least upside. It will probably be a pick in the 20s, requiring New York to add in many of the team's future second-rounders to get the No. 13 pick from Charlotte.

Subsequently, the Knicks flipped that 13th pick and Walker to the Pistons for the 2025 Milwaukee first-round pick Detroit acquired in yesterday's reported deal sending Jerami Grant to Portland.

Ultimately, New York comes away with three future first-rounders in exchange for the No. 11 pick, four second-rounders and Walker. The Knicks seem to be betting on two things: the possibility that some of those picks become more tantalizing as the protections on the Detroit and Washington first-rounders diminish over time, and that pushing the picks into the future preserves their trade value.

It's unlikely any one of the three picks New York landed will be as good as the two the team traded away, but the Knicks have given themselves multiple bites at the apple and more currency to offload salary ahead of next week's start to free agency.

Detroit Pistons: A-

This seems like a nice piece of business for the Pistons, who were able to convert a semi-distant first-rounder of uncertain value into a sure late lottery pick at the cost of taking on Walker's $9.2 million salary. Detroit could yet save a bit of that amount by agreeing to a buyout with Walker, something ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the team would look to do.

For now, adding Duren and Walker leaves the Pistons with more than max-level cap room. Depending on whether the team exercises options on the contracts of guards Hamidou Diallo and Frank Jackson, Detroit could still re-sign restricted free agent Marvin Bagley III before offering a max-level deal to a player with six or fewer years of experience.

The question remains who that player might be. Adding another center in Duren to 2020 first-round pick Isaiah Stewart suggests it might not be Phoenix Suns restricted free agent Deandre Ayton. And if the Pistons really had designs on Brunson, they probably wouldn't help New York clear space for an offer to him.

That seems to point toward Hornets forward Miles Bridges, also a restricted free agent, as Detroit's top target if the team goes the max offer route rather than using cap space to take on additional contracts to add draft picks.

Oklahoma City Thunder: B-

When Oklahoma City's taking Ousmane Dieng at No. 11 was first floated, the natural assumption was the Thunder would move up one spot from the No. 12 pick the team already owned. Instead, Oklahoma City kept both picks (the latter used on Santa Clara guard Jalen Williams) and relied on some of the team's plentiful future first-rounders to nab the intriguing Dieng.

To some extent, the Thunder probably continue to suffer from the low marginal value of each additional future pick. That makes Oklahoma City more willing to overpay from a value standpoint and other teams more likely to demand massive hauls in return for their picks.

At the same time, the Thunder also get a lot more certainty about their return. Because of their protections, the Detroit and Washington picks are unlikely to convey any time soon and plausibly might not before expiring in 2026 (Wizards) and 2027 (Pistons), respectively, when they convert to second-round picks. So Oklahoma City cashing in on them now is reasonable.

Charlotte Hornets: C+

The return for Charlotte here doesn't look great. The Hornets both move their first-round pick back a year and presumably move down in the draft to where the Denver pick will fall as compared to this year's 13th selection. None of the four second-round picks Charlotte also got from New York seem likely to make up that value. The Knicks' own picks are most likely to fall in the top half of the round but still unlikely to be much higher than 40th.

On the plus side, the Hornets were still able to get the center they presumably wanted all along (Duke's Mark Williams) with the 15th pick. Additionally, shedding the 13th pick does save a bit of money for Charlotte to match a potential offer sheet (possibly from Detroit) for Bridges. Retaining Bridges is probably more important to the Hornets' future than maximizing this pick.