Knicks Were Ready to Risk Every Pick for Joel Embiid Trade

The New York Knicks lineup — or at least their injury report — could've looked very different.

The Knicks are the latest team to take advantage of the reeling Philadelphia 76ers, dealing them their ninth consecutive loss to the tune of a 110-105 defeat at Madison Square Garden. Philadelphia has lost nine in a row and doesn't even have the comfort of 2023 MVP Joel Embiid to keep them company, as his continued knee injury woes relegated him to the inactive list.

Per a report from NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Knicks were willing to take on the burdens of Embiid over the offseason but transactional fate intervened.

"Once upon a time, Philly presumably could have extracted every draft pick that New York possessed before it splurged on trades for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns," Fischer wrote while documenting the Sixers' struggles. "The Knicks were always the rival threat, sources said, that Sixers officials knew was waiting to pounce if Embiid ever reached the trade market."

The Knicks instead mortgaged a good bit of their future to land the services of Bridges and Towns in respective trades with Brooklyn and Minnesota.

While such deals have taken on a rollercoaster nature of their own, they've been undeniable wins compared to the Sixers' predicament with Embiid, who may not return this season. Behind Bridges and Towns' added contributions, the Knicks (38-20) comfortably sit in third on the Eastern Conference leaderboard while Philadelphia (20-38) is in 12th and in danger of missing the NBA postseason completely.

Towns didn't play in Wednesday night's game due to a knee injury but Bridges came up big in the form of a 28-point tally en route to victory.

Embiid has routinely lingered in the New York rumor mill, even though he's a major public enemy in the modern metropolitan realm: the veteran center and seven-time All-Star incurred the wrath of Knicks fans for his overly physical play during last postseason's opening round series between the Atlantic Division rivals. New York won the best-of-seven series 4-2, clinching the set in front of a pro-Knick crowd at Wells Fargo Center.

The Knicks and Sixers have one more meeting scheduled this season, as they square off on April 1 in Manhattan. New York is going for its first sweep of the annual divisional set since the 2015-16 campaign.

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