Not always Jalen Brunson or Bust..
Mavericks free agent Obviously Knicks’ top target There are other options to improve your team to fill the holes in the point guard cave. This is because we are planning to clear nearly $ 20 million in cap space and create more.
Post Zack Brasiler breaks down some other possibilities as the free agent period approaches:
Malcolm Brogdon
The Pacers put a 29-year-old reed guard on the trade block to train young backcourt players, such as Tyrese Haliburton and Benedict Maturin’s first round picks. Knicks can reach Brogdon.
Former Virginia Star has been a productive player throughout his six-year NBA career, averaging 15.5 points, 4.8 assists, and shooting 37.6 percent from a 3-point range.
He is at risk of injury. Brogdon only played 36 games last year and hasn’t played more than 64 contests in a season since his rookie year. He is also expensive. According to Spotrac, he is in debt of $ 22.6 million from 2022 to 2011 and $ 22.5 million each in the following two seasons.
Dejounte Murray
He is by far the most unlikely option on this list, and it will need transportation. However, according to Bleacher Report, the rebuilding Spurs are willing to move Murray to a few first-round picks. Knicks will own 11 first round picks over the next 7 years and 4 picks in next year’s draft.
The 6-foot-4 guard is a franchise changer, and playing Murray with RJ Barrett makes Tom Thibodeau one of the best backcourts in the league. Murray is in an astonishing season with 21.1 points, 9.2 assists and 8.3 rebounds, still 25 years old and two years left on the contract.
Tyus Jones
Former Duke’s prominent figure has played a powerful role for himself in the Grizzlies and has emerged as an important part of one of the league’s best young rosters this year. As a free agent, Jones may now be able to earn cash.
A quality defender who rarely flips the ball over to himself, he is in the best season of his career. With only 21.2, he scored (8.7), rebounded (2.4) and shot three points (39.0%), the highest in his career. Minutes per game. His numbers got even better when Ja Morant entered and his role expanded, with 6-foot Jones scoring 12.7 points and 6.6 assists in 23 games.
With Memphis landing Kennedy Chandler in Tennessee on the NBA Draft, Jones could head for a new team.
Ricky Rubio
As with Brogdon, there are concerns about injury. He got out of the torn ACL and is a little long at 31 years old. But he’s a true point guard who can actually run a team that Knicks has clearly lacked for years.
Rubio had a great season for the Cavaliers last year, but before he got injured he produced 13.1 points and 6.6 assists. The Knicks could give him a light amount of work, at which point he rotated with Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley, and Miles “Deuce” McBride.
Kyle Anderson
He’s a local, from Fairview, NJ, not too expensive. Anderson at 6’9 is not a star. His best season averaged 12.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists at the Grizzlies in 2020-21, but he’s doing a lot well.
Perhaps most important to Knicks is that the free agent forward can defend and become a secondary playmaker. Over the past season, he has produced 106 defensive ratings with the highest performance in Memphis.
It’s not a flashy move, but it can be effective, especially if Knicks can’t land a new point guard and can use higher level passers-by.
