Knicks have made some good trades, but would they have been wise to hold off for Antetokounmpo?

It’s easy to picture a time when the Knicks’ front office, which had executed patience and skill for years to turn around the franchise, could have continued on that path — and that when Giannis Antetokounmpo talks were held this past summer, they’d have had all the pieces in place to pull the trigger on the biggest deal in team history.

If they had opted to stand pat with the team that had reached the Eastern Conference semifinals two straight seasons, they could have put multiple first-round picks on the table for the Bucks, along with Julius Randle, and begun piecing together some massive haul to make it happen.

There is no going back in time, though, and it’s hard to argue that the Knicks’ front office, led by Leon Rose, hasn’t done the work that reality dictates. They swung the major deals before the 2024-25 season for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, and the result was moving deeper into the playoffs than the franchise had been in a quarter-century. Do you give that up for the dream that someday a deal might present itself?

Well, I suspect most fans would say, “Yes, you do!’’

Still, it’s a difficult path to walk. Antetokounmpo has carefully navigated the talk, not admitting that there is truth to the story that he wanted to be shipped to New York. When an ESPN report surfaced this past week that the superstar and the Bucks would begin working together to plot out a future that might be someplace else, Bucks coach Doc Rivers insisted that Antetokounmpo has never asked for a trade.

That might be semantics, dancing around the wording that he hasn’t asked for a trade while he still might be expressing frustration about where Milwaukee is (10-14 entering Saturday night’s game at Detroit and playing without Antetokounmpo, who suffered a calf strain hours after the latest story surfaced and is sidelined for weeks).

The Knicks are still listening — as they did in the summer and as the front office has done with other teams. The reality certainly would indicate that despite the talk of Antetokounmpo preferring New York, the Bucks could land a better package than what the Knicks can put on the table now.

But the Knicks’ front office has surprised before, finding pathways to fit salaries and pieces onto the roster creatively. So let’s look at what they’ve done in the past.

Biggest trades

Feb. 9, 2023: A four-team deal based around sending out Cam Reddish and a 2023 first-round pick to obtain Josh Hart. Lots of other pieces moving in this, but hard to argue this isn’t the most impactful and one-sided move the front office has made, aside from signing Jalen Brunson. GRADE: A.

Dec. 30, 2023: The Knicks moved RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto along with a second-round pick to land OG Anunoby (along with Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn). With Quickley due for an extension that would have been pricier than they’d pay for a backup to Brunson, the Knicks moved on and grabbed a two-way star in Anunoby (and eventually paid him an even larger contract to keep him). This deal has worked for both sides. If Anunoby can stay on the court for 65 games, he deserves Defensive Player of the Year consideration. GRADE: B+.

July 6, 2024: The Knicks traded all of the picks they’d been accumulating as they saved to land Antetokounmpo. Wait, no, it was Luka Doncic. Um, no, it was Mikal Bridges, who has no statistic attached to his resume more than “five first-round picks.” He wasn’t exactly the star that the team had been waiting on, but those picks so far aren’t exactly the lottery picks you’d regret losing. The Nets took Ben Saraf and Nolan Traore with the first batch of them, Nos. 19 and 26 overall. The Knicks certainly hope 2027 still finds them good enough to push that pick to the back end of the round, and by the time the 2029 and 2031 first-rounders arrive, Knicks execs hope they’re on a beach somewhere after winning a title. Still, Bridges hasn’t been the difference-maker you’d expect for this package. GRADE: B.

Oct. 2, 2024: The Knicks sent a package based around Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and the 17th pick in the 2025 draft (Joan Beringer) to the Timberwolves for Towns, avoiding extension talks with Randle while bringing in the star offensive talents of Towns. The Knicks moved deeper into the postseason but still seem to have lost something from the previous group. GRADE: B.

There are numerous teams in the NBA that could put together packages for Antetokounmpo that would dwarf what the Knicks can offer. But there are pieces — Towns, Anunoby, Bridges or basically anyone other than Brunson. Could they turn it into a three-team deal, as they’ve done with these other moves, adding picks into a deal by shipping out a player or two to land them?

Will it happen? Maybe unlikely. Could it happen? Sure. Would I put it beyond the abilities or push of the front office? I would not.

Straight shooting

After Friday night’s 146-112 win over the Jazz, in which Deuce McBride converted a season-best seven three-point field goals (in 10 attempts), he was asked about his 27-for-42 shooting (64.3%) from beyond the arc in the past six games. His reaction was not what you’d expect.

“Y’all are telling me,” he said. “I don’t pay attention to the numbers. I have no clue. I just want to do whatever I can do to help the team win.”

Is he in some kind of rhythm that he doesn’t get to experience all of the time?

“Honestly, no,” he said. “Y’all are telling me the numbers. I’m just out there, my teammates are doing a great job of finding me. It feels natural.”

McBride is shooting 46.2% from outside the arc this season, and while he was moved back to the bench with the return of OG Anunoby on Friday, his role has made little difference.

As a starter, he’s shooting 45.3% from three-point range and averaging 14.3 points in 34.3 minutes per game. Off the bench, he’s at 20.9 minutes and 9.9 points, but he’s shooting 47.3% from outside the arc.

“I really try to make [the change] as minimal as I can and bring energy and bring a toughness to the game,” he said. “The main thing is I just want to impact the game, impact winning, in any way that I can.”

“Obviously, it starts with the player because he puts the work in,” said coach Mike Brown, who noted that one of his toughest assignments is finding enough minutes for McBride. “Our coaches do a really good job of breaking our offense down and putting guys in those situations when it comes to drill work or shooting work. And they get a lot of repetition on it.

“I take my hat off again to our staff, in particular our players, the extra work they put in. Deuce has caught on really well. He was one of the guys who was here early on. He’s been going through what we’ve been trying to do offensively for a while now. It’s showing dividends.”

Business and pleasure

While Brown repeatedly has spoken of relying on his coaching staff, it was a group that was put together not long before the season began, and he relied on the front office to help piece it together. With little time to learn each other ahead of a trip nearly around the world to Abu Dhabi, Brown organized a getaway.

“I leaned on Leon a lot. This was a collaborative effort when it came to hiring a staff, as most things are,” Brown said. “We had a great retreat up at the Mohonk Mountain House [in New Paltz]. It was fun, a lot of fun. I’ve gone on coach’s retreats before, but I actually encouraged all of the coaches — and everybody came, video guys, scouts, everybody — encouraged them to bring their spouses, too. We had meeting times during the day. The spouses had meeting time in the bar during the day or in the spa. And then at night we all got together.

“We were up there three days, and just like I define all the players' roles, we did the same thing for the coaching staff. I had everybody’s role defined and we went through, everybody kind of knew where they stood, and we kind of went from there.

"I thought that retreat or that trip was really, really good for our staff. We’ve been in the gym basically every day, we gather, and I give those guys as much ownership as I can in the process. I think they all feel like they’re part, and that helps too, if you feel you’re part of something, the front office, whatever, you have more ownership in the process, you’re going to want it to have that much more success.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.