Knicks get look at trade partner Pistons
Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) makes a layup during the first half of an NBA basketball game ]av\, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Carlos Osorio
As the Knicks prepared for the Detroit Pistons Friday, there was a familiar look — from players on the roster to those who they believed might have been.
The two teams swung a draft-night deal that allowed the Knicks to unload the contract of Kemba Walker and put in place the parameters of another cap-clearing deal to move the contracts of Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel.
The deals allowed the Knicks to open the salary-cap space to sign Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein but left them without the chance to grab Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, the promising rookies the Pistons obtained and the Knicks were believed to covet.
“Well, they looked at all the possibilities,” coach Tom Thibodeau said of the prospect of moving up in the draft to get Ivey. “You actually prepare for the draft, and you don’t just start a week before. Our scouts are evaluating all year long. Then once you get closer, you look at all the possibilities. You think about, what possibilities are there to move up? What possibilities are there to move down? What trade possibilities? Can you get in there where you can acquire players? And so I think that’s all part of that draft process.There were a number of guys that we liked that were picked high. We thought it was a very talented draft. There were other things that we were trying to do as well. So I thought Leon [Rose] did a good job having a very good strategy in place.”
The players the Knicks surrendered were not a problem Friday, with Walker waived earlier in the week and Burks and Noel nursing injuries that have sidelined them throughout the preseason and start of the season.
Ivey had 17 points and nine assists and Duren had 10 rebounds Friday as the Knicks won, 130-106.
“We understood where Kemba was at that time,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said of the deal for Walker. “There was a conversation about the buyout. Plus we also just got Jaden Ivey and Cade Cunningham. And also we had Cory Joseph. So we were loaded.”
The Pistons also signed former Knicks first-round pick Kevin Knox in the summer.
Rose on hold
Derrick Rose played sparingly in the preseason and was on the floor for only 12 minutes in the opener, but he had 13 points and six assists in 16 minutes on Friday night and was a plus-23.
“The thing is, he’s in a place where he can handle minutes, but we have a starting point guard,” Thibodeau said. “So just go whatever minutes; he’ll do whatever we ask him to do. If we need him for more minutes, he’ll be ready for more minutes. If we need him for less, it’s less.”
“I’m letting Thibs dictate that,” Rose said. “I didn’t talk to him at all about it.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
