New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

GM: Porzingis Will Return 'Better Than Ever'

February 7th, 2018 at 5:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks are still reeling after losing Kristaps Porzingis for the rest of the season and possibly longer, but GM Scott Perry told Brian Hayman of Newsday that a full recovery is expected. At a news conference today, Perry confirmed that Porzingis will need surgery for a torn ACL. The team doesn’t have a timetable for when it expects Porzingis to start playing again, but Perry did offer a bit of hope for Knicks fans.

The injury complicates a huge offseason decision in New York as Porzingis becomes eligible for an extension to his rookie contract. He was in the middle of his most productive year, averaging 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and a league-leading 2.4 blocks per game, so a max offer seemed inevitable. However, the injury may change the equation as the Knicks may seek to work out a smaller deal or could let the Latvian star become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2019.

Porzingis’ misfortune affects numerous aspects of the Knicks‘ organization, including the future of coach Jeff Hornacek, according to James Herbert of CBS Sports. Hornacek has one more season left on his contract, but he was hired by former team president Phil Jackson and doesn’t have a strong connection to the current regime. Hornacek is 54-83 in a season and a half in New York and may be presiding over another second-half collapse.

Trade Rumors: Chriss, Knicks, Belinelli, Hood

February 7th, 2018 at 1:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Over at USA Today, Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt broke down trade deadline goals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams. While the duo’s round-up mentioned several players already known to be trade candidates, Amick and Zillgitt also identified a few new names.

Kings center Georgios Papagiannis, Timberwolves guard Jamal Crawford, and Nuggets big man Darrell Arthur are among the players who could be available this week, per Amick and Zillgitt. The duo also suggested that a handful of teams are open for business on nearly all of their players. The Hawks are willing to discuss anyone except John Collins; the Mavericks would talk about anyone besides Dirk Nowitzki, Dennis Smith Jr., and Harrison Barnes; and the only players off the table for the Thunder are Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, and Steven Adams.

Here are a few more trade rumors from around the NBA:

The Suns appear to be exploring deals involving second-year big man Marquese Chriss, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who tweets that the Lakers are one of a few teams involved. However, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7, who is well-connected in Phoenix, tweets that those rumors are “totally false,” suggesting that the club hasn’t discussed deals involving Chriss. Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic also gets involved, tweeting that the Suns would only consider parting with Chriss in a deal for an established player like Kemba Walker.
Having sending Willy Hernangomez to Charlotte, the Knicks continue to take calls about Kyle O’Quinn and Courtney Lee, and are still trying to trade Joakim Noah, says ESPN’s Ian Begley.
The Jazz aren’t one of the teams in the mix for veteran guard Marco Belinelli, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. According to Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link), Belinelli isn’t making the trip to Orlando with the Hawks, as the team continues to mull its trade options.
As many as 15 teams have called the Jazz to inquire about trade candidate Rodney Hood, tweets Tony Jones.
In an in-depth look at where things stand for the Kings, James Ham of NBC Sports California says the club doesn’t want to take on a bad contract that runs past 2018/19 or impact its young core led by De’Aaron Fox and Bogdan Bogdanovic.

Knicks Trade Willy Hernangomez To Hornets

February 7th, 2018 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

1:29pm: The Knicks and Hornets have both confirmed the trade, issuing press releases to announce the deal.

“We’re excited to add a player of Willy’s caliber to our team,” Hornets GM Rich Cho said in a statement. “He showed last season that he can contribute when given the opportunity and we believe that the added depth he provides will benefit our frontcourt rotation.”

In his own statement, Knicks GM Scott Perry said the deal gives the Knicks “valuable” draft picks and better positions the club as it builds for the future.

10:22am: The Knicks are in the process of finalizing a trade with the Hornets that will send center Willy Hernangomez to Charlotte, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. According to Charania, the Knicks will receive Johnny O’Bryant and a pair of second-round picks in the deal.

Those second-rounders headed to New York will be Charlotte’s own picks in 2020 and 2021, tweets Charania. Michael Scotto of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that they’ll be unprotected.

A second-round pick himself in 2015, Hernangomez signed his first NBA contract with the Knicks in the summer of 2016 and played 72 games (22 starts) during the 2016/17 campaign. He averaged a respectable 8.2 PPG and 7.0 RPG for New York in just 18.4 minutes per contest in his rookie year, and appeared to be one of the promising young building blocks for the franchise.

This season, however, the arrival of Enes Kanter and the strong play of Kyle O’Quinn have resulted in a significantly reduced role for Hernangomez, who has averaged just 9.0 MPG in 26 contests. Even with Joakim Noah not really in the mix at center for the Knicks this season, there has been little room in the rotation for Hernangomez, prompting the young big man to repeatedly express a desire to play more. We heard earlier this week that the 23-year-old’s reps had requested a trade.

For the Knicks, the move comes on the heels of Kristaps Porzingis‘ season-ending ACL injury. Entering the season, the team had identified Porzingis and Hernangomez as two core pieces for its rebuild, along with Frank Ntilikina and Tim Hardaway Jr. Now, in the span of two days, Porzingis has potentially been lost until the 2019 calendar year, while Hernangomez is headed to Charlotte.

As for the Hornets, they’ll pick up an intriguing prospect who still has two more years left on his contract after the 2017/18 season. That contract is extremely team-friendly, with Hernangomez set to earn $1.54MM in 2018/19 and $1.68MM in 2019/20. Those modest salaries are especially appealing for the Hornets, whose cap sheet is currently overloaded with eight-figure salaries.

While Hernangomez is a nice pickup for the Hornets, the team runs the risk of creating the same sort of frontcourt logjam that plagued the Knicks. Dwight Howard is the starting center in Charlotte, with Cody Zeller and Frank Kaminsky also earning minutes at the five. It will be interesting to see if the Hornets plan to hang onto all those players through Thursday’s trade deadline.

Since they can take on O’Bryant’s salary using the minimum salary exception, the Knicks will create a very minor trade exception in the swap — it’ll be worth $1,435,750, the amount of Hernangomez’s salary for 2017/18.

Meanwhile, the two draft picks acquired by New York in the deal will essentially replace the Knicks’ own 2020 and 2021 second-rounders, which the team traded to Philadelphia back on draft day in 2015. The Knicks’ return in that trade with the Sixers was the No. 35 overall pick in the 2015 draft — the selection used to nab Hernangomez.

Forbes Releases 2018 NBA Franchise Valuations

February 7th, 2018 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks are still reeling from Tuesday’s news that Kristaps Porzingis has suffered a torn ACL and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. While Porzingis’ injury essentially eliminates the Knicks from the playoff race in the East, team ownership can at least find some solace in the fact that the organization remains the highest-valued franchise in the NBA, according to a report from Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes.

For the first time, all 30 NBA teams have a perceived worth of $1 billion or more, per Forbes’ annual report. In 2017, 18 teams had a valuation exceeding $1 billion, which was up from 13 teams in 2016 and just three teams in 2015.

The league-wide average of $1.65 billion per team is also a record, with franchise valuations up 22% in total over last year’s figures. NBA franchise values have tripled over the last five years, according to Badenhausen.

Here’s the full list of NBA franchise valuations, per Forbes:

New York Knicks: $3.6 billion
Los Angeles Lakers: $3.3 billion
Golden State Warriors: $3.1 billion
Chicago Bulls: $2.6 billion
Boston Celtics: $2.5 billion
Brooklyn Nets: $2.3 billion
Houston Rockets: $2.2 billion
Los Angeles Clippers: $2.15 billion
Dallas Mavericks: $1.9 billion
Miami Heat: $1.7 billion
San Antonio Spurs: $1.55 billion
Toronto Raptors: $1.4 billion
Sacramento Kings: $1.375 billion
Washington Wizards: $1.35 billion
Cleveland Cavaliers: $1.325 billion
Portland Trail Blazers: $1.3 billion
Phoenix Suns: $1.28 billion
Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.25 billion
Orlando Magic: $1.225 billion
Utah Jazz: $1.2 billion
Philadelphia 76ers: $1.18 billion
Indiana Pacers: $1.175 billion
Atlanta Hawks: $1.15 billion
Denver Nuggets: $1.125 billion
Detroit Pistons: $1.1 billion
Milwaukee Bucks: $1.075 billion
Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.06 billion
Charlotte Hornets: $1.05 billion
Memphis Grizzlies: $1.025 billion
New Orleans Pelicans: $1 billion

For comparison’s sake, Forbes’ 2017 valuations can be found right here.

Knicks Rumors: Payton, Noah, Biyombo, Hernangomez

February 7th, 2018 at 8:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks got some devastating news on Tuesday night, as an MRI revealed that Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn ACL, sidelining him for the rest of the 2017/18 season — and likely for the start of next season too.

After a solid start to the year, there was speculation that the Knicks could remain in the playoff picture in the East, with key contributors like Porzingis and Enes Kanter publicly encouraging the organization to push for the postseason rather than selling off assets. Already mired in a slump though, the Knicks are now nine games below .500 and their playoff hopes appear to be on life support.

With the Porzingis injury further reducing the Knicks’ chances of making a late-season run, members of the franchise have already discussed giving the team’s young players more minutes for the rest of the year, sources tell Ian Begley of ESPN (Twitter link). While Begley says it’s not clear yet whether that’s the definitive plan, it would certainly make sense to shift in that direction.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

The Knicks have checked in on Magic guard Elfrid Payton, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who notes that Knicks GM Scott Perry was a member of Orlando’s front office when the club drafted Payton. Berman adds that Perry and the Knicks view Payton as the type of athletic player they covet, and believe the fourth-year point guard has more upside as a defender than the advanced metrics suggest.
According to Berman, the Knicks and Magic have engaged in preliminary talks about Payton, and the two teams have discussed the possibility of including highly-paid bigs Joakim Noah and Bismack Biyombo in a deal. Still, these talks occurred before Porzingis went down on Tuesday, so it’s not clear how that injury impacts New York’s plans.
The Nuggets are one of about a dozen teams that have inquired on Willy Hernangomez, but the young center isn’t being discussed in talks with the Magic, sources tell Berman. The Knicks would likely move Hernangomez if they could get a first-round pick or a promising young player at a different position in return, says Berman.
With Porzingis potentially sidelined until the 2019 calendar year, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton examines how the injury will affect the Knicks’ offseason plans. If Porzingis misses a good chunk of the 2018/19 season, the team may end putting off any major veteran additions until at least 2019, Pelton notes. He adds that the injury could make a Courtney Lee trade more viable for the Knicks, since Lee is more of a win-now piece.

MRI Reveals Kristaps Porzingis Has Torn ACL

February 6th, 2018 at 9:59pm CST by Austin Kent

9:59pm: Results of an MRI have confirmed that Porzingis has torn his ACL, the team’s PR department tweets. He could be out for as long as 12 months, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News tweets.

7:56pm: Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis is scheduled to have an MRI on his left knee, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN writes. The 22-year-old needed to be helped off the court after a dunk in the first half of New York’s Tuesday night contest.

Porzingis remained on the court for a minute after his knee initially buckled but, as Frank Isola of The New York Daily News writes, he was able to put weight on it as he headed toward his MRI.

In his third year, Porzingis has upped his scoring averaged to 22.9 points per game, earning his first career All-Star Game nod in the process.

Latest On Willy Hernangomez

February 6th, 2018 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Word broke on Monday that Willy Hernangomez‘s representatives have asked the Knicks to trade the young center, though as Marc Berman and Zach Braziller of The New York Post note, that trade request was hardly shocking news. Hernangomez had publicly said several times already this season that he’d welcome a move to another team if that’s what it took for him to receive more playing time.

According to Ian Begley of ESPN, more than a dozen teams have expressed some level of interest in Hernangomez, and several of those clubs have put specific offers on the table for the Knicks. Still, New York’s front office won’t give Hernangomez away — the team is seeking a significant return for the 23-year-old, per Begley.

One source who has spoken to Knicks higher-ups expects the team to hang onto Hernangomez through the deadline unless a deal returns better long-term assets than the young big man, according to Berman and Braziller. Meanwhile, Begley notes that the Knicks are confident they’ll be able to reintegrate Hernangomez if they don’t trade him by Thursday.

Rockets Explore Market For Ryan Anderson

February 5th, 2018 at 9:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets are exploring the market for power forward Ryan Anderson, ESPN Rockets Insider Kelly Iko tweets. This comes as no surprise, since Houston has been open to moving Anderson’s big contract since last summer. Anderson is making $19.6MM in the second year of his four-year contract and is owed $20.4MM and $21.3MM over the next two seasons.

Anderson was a hot commodity during the summer of 2016 in a league that covets stretch fours. But Houston seemingly experienced buyer’s remorse just months after signing him.

Anderson appeared in 72 games last season, averaging 13.6 PPG and 4.6 RPG. He has started 49 of 50 games this season but has seen his role in the offense shrink. He’s averaging 10.2 PPG, his lowest output since the 2009/10 season when he played for the Magic. He has been a bigger factor on the boards at 5.4 RPG.

He’s still shooting a solid 37.9% from long range and a majority of his shots have come from beyond the arc. He averages 5.6 3-point attempts per game, compared to 2.4 attempts inside the 3-point line.

Anderson’s name was prominently mentioned in trade talks this summer involving the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony. One of the reasons New York turned down offers from Houston is that it wasn’t interested in taking on Anderson’s deal.

In order to move Anderson’s contract, the Rockets would likely have to part with at least one first-round pick. Last summer, teams were reportedly asking for two first-rounders from Houston in order to acquire his hefty contract.

Knicks Have Interest In Stanley Johnson

February 5th, 2018 at 3:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Stanley Johnson‘s name has surfaced repeatedly in trade rumors this season, and according to Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link), the Knicks are one team that has been monitoring the third-year forward. Ellis adds that he’d be “stunned” to see Johnson moved, however.

Willy Hernangomez Seeking Trade

February 5th, 2018 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

Knicks center Willy Hernangomez is seeking a trade out of New York, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who reports that Hernangomez’s representatives have informed Knicks officials of the trade request in recent days.

After a solid rookie season, Hernangomez has seen his role reduced in 2017/18, and has repeatedly expressed a desire to play more. While there was a belief that the 23-year-old would be satisfied with the Knicks moving one or two of their other centers to clear minutes up front, it now appears that Hernangomez would prefer a trade to a team prepared to give him more of an opportunity right away.

A second-round pick in 2015, Hernangomez signed his first NBA contract in the summer of 2016 and played 72 games (22 starts) during the 2016/17 campaign. He averaged a respectable 8.2 PPG and 7.0 RPG for the Knicks in just 18.4 minutes per contest in his rookie year. This season, however, Enes Kanter and Kyle O’Quinn have been the Knicks’ primary centers, limiting Hernangomez to just 9.2 MPG in 25 contests.

While it remains to be seen where Hernangomez might land if the Knicks decide to grant his reported trade request, Charania hears that several teams have engaged in discussions about the former Real Madrid big man. A report last week suggested that the Spurs and Mavericks were among the teams to express interest in Hernangomez, while a January report linked the Jazz to the young center.