Chris Paul and the Thunder visit the Knicks as offseason speculation abounds
NEW YORK — A specter is looming inside Madison Square Garden tonight, and his name is Chris Paul.
As first reported by Frank Isola, Paul may be headed to the Knicks this summer via trade, and every move is being analyzed tonight in the Thunder’s lone trip to Madison Square Garden.
A pregame embrace between Paul and Knicks President Leon Rose — Paul's former agent — will do nothing to dissuade those rumors.
Paul, who has a career average of 20.4 points per game at Madison Square Garden against an 18.5 point per game average for his career, might be trying to show out for Rose, and a chance to finally bring to fruition rumors of Paul in New York that first started during Carmelo Anthony's tenure at the Garden with a famous toast at Melo's wedding.
If you ask Paul, however, apparently it's much too early for those sort of discussions while Oklahoma City is in the thick of a Western Conference playoff hunt.
Regardless, the current Knicks can make all the noise go away for a night at least if they play the Thunder more like they played the Rockets on Monday, and less like Wednesday's tough matchup with the Jazz.
Mitchell Robinson will be returning for the Knicks, which will certainly help from a defensive point of view.
"Mitchell went through shoot-around this morning feeling better, so we're planning on him playing tonight," Knicks head coach Mike Miller said before the game.
Robinson's presence will be useful against the Thunder's Steven Adams, who comes in averaging 11 points and 9.4 rebounds on 59% shooting from the floor. Without Robinson Wednesday, Utah's Rudy Gobert and Tony Bradley combined for 26 points on 11-12 shooting from the pivot spot. Luckily, it appears Robinson will be operating without any restrictions following his hamstring ailment on Wednesday.
“At this point we’re planning on him just playing," Miller said. "Unless he gets out there and he feels something different, we’ll plan on him playing just like he always does.”
Ultimately, though, Oklahoma City's trio of guards — Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schröder — is what will be most important for the Knicks to stop if they hope to come away with a victory. The trio account for 56 points per game.
And therein lies the key for the Knicks tonight — if they want to stop hearing about Paul for a while, beating him tonight at home will go a long way towards doing so.
