In the aftermath of ESPN’s Shams Charania reporting that Giannis Antetokounmpo had interest in joining the New York Knicks over the summer, it’s become popular practice to relitigate the team’s last year-and-change of transactions. The main takeaway: New York basically chose trading for Mikal Bridges over Giannis—even though it absolutely, positively did not.
Criticizing the Knicks’ process is easy in hindsight. They surrendered control of six first-round picks (five outright, and one swap) for someone who’s a fringe top-50 player. Those assets would have come in handy during negotiations for Giannis this past summer with the Milwaukee Bucks.