In what has been an up-and-down season for the New York Knicks, the future of their franchise remains a major question mark ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline.
As one of the teams stuck in “no man’s land,” New York finds itself in the middle of contention and rebuilding, which is probably one of the places a team could be.
Now, to make matters worse, one of the team’s main young pieces (RJ Barrett) recently got benched against the Lakers to mark the latest incident in what has been an underwhelming season so far.
According to Stefan Bondy of the NY Daily News, Barrett was so upset after his benching against the Lakers on Tuesday that he refused to speak to the media.
RJ Barrett declined to talk to the media after he was benched for most of the fourth quarter and overtime.
“I got nothing to say.”
RJ Barrett declined to talk to the media after he was benched for most of the fourth quarter and overtime.
“I got nothing to say.”
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) February 1, 2023
Barrett has always had issues with consistency, but he has been among the Knicks’ most reliable players, especially on the defensive end. Nevertheless, he was relegated to the bench in their latest loss and head coach Tom Thibodeau didn’t really go into too much detail about why.
“We were just looking for our group to get going,” Thibodeau said. “The group that was out there was what we went with (New York Post).”
It remains to be seen if Barrett can respond to the benching with strong play on the court, but this turn of events certainly draws some questions about Barrett’s fit in New York long-term.
Could The Knicks Trade RJ Barrett?
While no Barrett deal is imminent at this time, there are rumblings that the Knicks might consider moving him in a package for a star. In one scenario, Barret is even mentioned in a deal for LeBron James.
If you subscribe to the theory that James went to Los Angeles largely for off-court reasons, then New York would probably be his ideal destination if staying put isn’t an option. The Knicks nearly traded for Mitchell in the offseason, but didn’t largely because they felt giving up that much for a single star would compromise their ability to land a second. Well, here’s their path to two stars. James, given all of the factors we’ve covered thus far, just wouldn’t cost nearly as much as Mitchell. There’s a pretty simple RJ Barrett-for-LeBron construction here with perhaps a bit of extra draft capital involved.
No matter what you believe about RJ and his trajectory in the league, he is a huge part of the Knicks’ success and they wouldn’t trade him on a whim.
Still, his recent benching does say a lot about his struggles to live up to expectations as a 3rd overall lottery pick. Hopefully, the move inspires him to come out and play the best basketball of his career.
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