The New York Knicks weren't very active on the day of the trade deadline, but they did manage to make one deal before time ran out. Pablo Prigioni is reportedly heading out of town in exchange for draft picks and a young shooting guard.
No, the Knicks did not manage to swing a trade for Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic, who was dealt to the Miami Heat earlier today. They also weren't able to rid themselves of point guard Jose Calderon or power forward Andrea Bargnani, which is no surprise because Knicks president Phil Jackson said they weren't garnering any trade interest from other teams.
Instead they shipped Prigioni to the Houston Rockets in exchange for shooting guard Alexey Shved and two second-round picks (2017 and 2019), according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Shved has an expiring $3.3 million contract and the Knicks do not play on waiving him once the deal becomes official. The addition of two second-round picks proves to be crucial because New York did not have any in each of the next three drafts.
This further sets them up to have a ton of cap space heading into the summer, although they missed out on acquiring a talented point guard in Dragic. According to David Aldridge of NBA.com, the Knicks believed they had an "outside shot at getting Dragic for a [Tim] Hardaway/[Jose] Calderon package." Despite their optimism prior to the deadline, one executive scoffed at the possibility.
"Yeah, good luck with the Knicks," said the exec told Fred Kerber of the New York Post. "They don't have enough pieces to get it done - the last thing Phoenix wants is another guard. And they're not going to trade their pick. I'm always reading how everybody wants to be a Knick. Well, where the hell are all these guys?"
Prigioni still has one more year left on his deal and is owed $1.7 million ($300,000 of which is guaranteed), but it's speculated he's going to return to Spain next season and play there.
The Knicks will have a busy offseason as a number of talented players are scheduled to hit free agency.
