Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul warms up before Game 5 of basketball's NBA Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks, Saturday, July 17, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) Credit: AP/Matt York
As the Knicks shuffled their way around the NBA Draft Thursday night, trading away the No. 19 pick, shifting back from 21 to 25 and even backtracking in the second round to pick up an extra selection, they weren’t acting like a team in the early stages of a rebuild.
Efforts to move up were made and rejected, so if the Knicks still were building youthful pieces around their base they might have gone ahead and made those picks at 19 and 21, trying to fill holes and focus on development.