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Mock Trade: Knicks Make An Attempt to Acquire Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from Thunder

The New York Knicks are still looking for a star to add to the roster, but OKC Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely has too high of a price tag.

The 2022-23 NBA season is getting close, with training camp starting next week. This will be a time in which teams evaluate what they have and determine final roster decisions.

With that in mind, it’s not too late to make trades around the league.

Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report recently proposed a mock trade for every team across the league with less than a month until the regular season begins. 

For the New York Knicks, Bleacher Report listed Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the ideal trade target. After missing out on Donovan Mitchell, who’s now with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Gilgeous-Alexander would be the perfect fit for the Knicks.

With that in mind, it would take an incredible package to pry him away from Oklahoma City. In this mock trade, it was proposed that all New York would have to send is Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Cam Reddish, a 2023 first-round pick, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick for the rising Thunder guard. 

Simply put, this wouldn’t be enough.

Gilgeous-Alexander is legitimately the face of the franchise and could be a top-25 player in the entire NBA this season at age 24. It would take another young rising star and even more picks than this for Thunder GM Sam Presti to even consider a deal for him.

As good as Grimes is as a potential prospect, he hasn’t shown star upside outside of NBA Summer League. In fact, he only played 17.1 minutes per game with the Knicks, who weren’t even a playoff team. Sure, he could be a great player down the road, but he’s nowhere near proven enough to be the centerpiece of a Gilgeous-Alexander deal.


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