Knicks Reportedly Exploring Ways to Trade for NBA Champion Point Guard

As the NBA trade deadline on February 5 creeps closer, the Knicks have started to pop up in the rumor mill more and more often.

New York, boasting an expensive roster and an organization all-in on competing for a championship this season, went on a concerning slide after winning the NBA Cup. From December 18 to January 19 the Knicks went 8-11 with some pretty brutal losses to injury-riddled teams, leading to loud choruses of boos from the Madison Square Garden rafters that even the team agreed were warranted. They’ve bounced back with two straight wins in the last two games but alarm bells rung regardless thanks to some of the lifeless stretches they struggled through.

It’s led to lots of speculation the Knicks might try to make a big move at the deadline, especially given owner James Dolan’s rare public proclamation that the franchise carries championship expectations. On Monday night NBA insider Marc Stein reported on what New York might do.

With just over a week to go before the deadline Stein reported Knicks officials have “tried to downplay” a popular rumor that Karl-Anthony Towns might be on the move. However, there have been “rumblings” that New York has explored ways to acquire two-time NBA champion Jrue Holiday.

“Another concept that keeps coming up: Rumbles that the Knicks have explored pathways to try to acquire Portland's Jrue Holiday,” Stein wrote in The Stein Line newsletter. “There are at least two clear reasons why New York would have interest in a player who helped both Milwaukee and Boston win championships this decade: 1) The presumption that acquiring Holiday — if there's a way — would make the Knicks an even more attractive destination to Holiday's former Bucks teammate (Giannis) Antetokounmpo; 2) New York is believed to hold a longstanding fondness for Holiday as a potential backcourt complement to Jalen Brunson.”

Holiday would be a perfect target for the Knicks for Stein’s reasons above and more. They had a front row seat to watching Holiday help lead the Celtics to a championship as a fourth option by playing excellent defense and providing timely offense when the moment called for it. That kind of steadiness is exactly what a contending team like New York needs when the game is teetering on the edge of disaster. Plus, adding him to the backcourt would fix a lot of the defensive issues a Brunson-centric team suffers from. The fact that Holiday is enjoying his best offensive year since leaving Milwaukee via trade in 2023 is just a bonus.

The problem, of course, is how the Knicks would land the Blazers guard. Holiday is making $32.4 million in the second season of a four-year, $134 million deal. New York is a second-apron team which means the only way the franchise can acquire Holiday, based on CBA financial rules, would be to trade a key rotation player like Towns or Mikal Bridges— and even then, neither of those players could be traded for Holiday straight-up. It would have to be a complicated trade involving multiple teams and that is tough to pull off in the offseason, much less midseason under a deadline.

Stein’s reporting supports that reality.

“Sources with knowledge of New York's thinking have insisted it is focused on smaller deals built around Guerschon Yabusele's $5.5 million salary and shedding that contract before Yabusele's $6 million player option for next season kicks in,” he said after reporting the Holiday connection.

It’s a fun scenario to imagine, especially for fans hoping the Knicks could get in on the Giannis sweepstakes that could take place over the summer. But it’s tough to see a Holiday trade coming together.

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