The Knicks are about to FLEECE The NBA...

The New York Knicks are about to fleece the NBA as we have a new trade report to go over regarding the team and though some fans will have trouble parting with one of the longest tenured players on the team and someone who has had a big role with the Knicks over their great run that they've had over the last couple of years, it does make sense for where the team is at right now considering at the end of the day, the Knicks have a lot of guard depth on this team and it's only getting better with more guys coming into the team with the emergence of Tyler Kolick. So right now, there does leave some expendability there while the Knicks big man situation is certainly thin. And we have a lot to go over on this guys, so we're going to jump right into things as usual. Just make sure to go ahead and subscribe to Knicks Digest so you don't miss out on any Knicks news. We got videos like this coming out every single day, breaking down all the latest New York Knicks news for you guys and 66% of viewers are not currently subscribed. It is completely free. We got Knicks videos every day, but let's jump in to the news because there's a lot to look at. I mean, it's no secret that right now the Knicks, we know what they're all looking at. We know the front office is looking for some way, somehow they can add another true big man to this team who can protect the rim, who can kind of do what Mitchell Robinson did. Because when Mitch left, it did leave a Mitchell Robinson sized hole in the wall. Now the front office did a good job by swiftly turning around and signing Andre Drummond to a veteran minimum deal for $3.9 million. Drummond's a good player. Put up five and eight last year off the bench. Still one of the NBA's best rebounders, but he's not a true rim protector. And obviously like, I mean, Robinson too did, but he does have some limitations and he didn't fully fill the void that was left by Robinson, especially when we consider Drummond's a one year kind of guy, like he's going into his 15th year in the league. He's been in the league for a while and he certainly does have limitations. So the Knicks, there's no secret they're going to look for another big man. And now we're seeing more reports on Musa Diabate becoming someone who the Knicks clearly have interest in. And even from the Hornets side, they like a trade idea for the Knicks. Now Sports Illustrated did mention, and this is covering the Hornets more than the Knicks, that the Charlotte Hornets suddenly have a problem that they haven't had in years. Too many good big men. For a long time, they've searched for answers down low, and now they have more answers than questions. It comes at the cost of backcourt depth too, but nonetheless, they have a surplus of bigs. Could they trade one or some of them? It's certainly possible since they still have too many contracts on the roster right now. They continued by mentioning Musa Diabate saying, Diabate was the breakout star of last year for the Hornets, and he would make sense as a possible trade option because the Hornets know what he is. Ryan Kalkbrenner is also an option, but Kalkbrenner is massive and is less developed. Diabate was 14th in the entire NBA among those with 1,000 minutes or more in on-off splits. He was amazing last season, full stop, but he's undersized, which is quickly becoming a problem in the ever-changing modern NBA. He also cannot shoot and isn't necessarily a prolific scorer. What he does, he does extremely well, and that's rebound and work opposing bigs. He draws fouls on them and gets offensive rebounds like so few others. Kind of sounds like a guy who we had for eight years. Look, Diabate is one of the best replacements for Mitchell Robinson there is out there. There's no other way to put it. He's one of the best options to replace Mitchell Robinson because he's a great offensive rebounder, he's a great shot blocker, he's a rim runner, lob catcher, and yeah, he does supplementations. He can't shoot. Oh, boo-hoo. It's fine. The Knicks have Carl Anthony Towns, the greatest shooting big man in the history of the sport, so I don't think they're going to be too pressed for shooting bigs at all on this team. Meanwhile, you look at the Hornets. They acquired Naz Redoux. I guess maybe they're going to play it power forward even though he's a center. At the same time, you also have other big men. Ryan Kochbrenner, Hans Steibach was just drafted. There's a lot of bigs on this team already, and Diabate does give the Knicks something to work with. As Basketball University said, Diabate is the best player in the entire NBA winning the possession battle last season, truly a world-class offensive rebounder, absolute sure to play against extremely high-impact hoops, and we can see that through one specific stat, the lowest rebound chance percentage in the 2025-26 NBA regular season with a minimum of 500 rebound chances. Adem Bona was first, and Diabate was second. After him goes Luka Garza, another Hornet, and Ryan Kochbrenner, Jay Huff, Chuck Landau, Colin Murray-Boyles, Daniel Gafford, Miles Turner, and Devin Booker. Shout out to Devin Booker, man. What this stat is effectively tells you how many rebounds a player got with the lowest chance of getting that rebound. So basically, in the rebounds that Moussa Diabate got, the amount of chances he had to get a rebound, only he had a 43% chance on average of getting the rebounds that he got. That's absurd. That is really insane, and one of the reasons it's like that is because of how many offensive rebounds he's able to grab. He's such a high flyer. He boxes out well. He evades boxing out well. Yeah, he has flaws. He can't shoot. Neither could Mitchell Robinson. It's not the end of the world that Diabate's not going to shoot, but at the same time, we can look at Diabate's numbers, we can look at the stuff right here and understand, okay, he would actually give us something that would be super helpful. Yeah, Drummond's a great classic rebounder, but then Diabate gives you a versatile rebounder, which is a different look. He also gives you more of a shot blocker. Now, Diabate was also healthy. He played in 75 games. He averaged 26 minutes per game, putting up 8 points and 9 rebounds per game. He blocked a shot per game as well, and I know they say he's undersized, but not by that much. He is 6'10", after all, so it's not that bad. It's not true undersizing. He's not 6'8". A Dembona, who's first on that list, he is undersized at 6'8". 6'10 can be manageable at center 100%. You can do it. You'll be fine. But here's the thing. With Diabate, there's a lot to like about his game. He's just so helpful for the Hornets right now, and the Hornets, between already having a bunch of big men, and they have two more on the roster as well, this team is stacked full of big men. They need to find some way to change this. They need to add more guard depth, and again, the big argument against Diabate is something that the Knicks don't have to worry about. Not shooting. He doesn't really ever shoot mid-range shots. Most of his shots come from under the rim, and he shoots 71% under there, which is good, so there's no reason to really worry. The question is, who would the Knicks trade it for? Last voice of the Illustrated mentions, what kind of draft compensation would need to be attached? It won't be a glorious return, but Diabate is obviously a good player, and would fetch a couple of future second-round picks. Attaching a 2028 second-round pick via Phoenix and a 2030 second-round pick via Philadelphia likely gets the deal done, although the Hornets would understandably be miffed about trading another piece of the best lineup in the NBA last season for an underwhelming return, but Deuce McBride was mentioned as the guy. As we see right here also, it does benefit the Knicks because they get an extra $1.5 million away from the third apron, meaning they could sign Tyler Nichol, not have to worry about Nichol going back to college, and all of a sudden, you have your roster. You have your team set up, and then all of a sudden, things start to look really good. You got an extra shooter. You got an extra big man. You have absurd depth, and yeah, losing Deuce hurts, but all of a sudden, we're looking at... I keep saying all of a sudden. I never say that in videos, but we look at the fact that Jose Alvarado is on a three-year contract. We have Tyler Kolick still hanging around. We have Landry Shammott. We have Mohamed Diawara. We'd have Moussa Diabate. We'd have Andre Drummond. We'd have a deep bench. Remember, Landry Shammott became the sixth man by the end of the NBA Finals. It's not like Deuce was still our sixth man at that time. I'm not saying Deuce wasn't good. Of course, Deuce was good. He's a great defender, but again, we have Alvarado, who's a great defender off the bench. Landry Shammott's defense is really good, and he can go in a few different positions. Deuce overall was fine in the playoffs, putting up 5.6 points, shooting 37% from three and playing strong defense, but he wasn't life-changing. We can move on from Deuce, and it's not like he's our entire bench like he was not that long ago. This is a different team, and right now, this move gives the Knicks more depth. It gives them an actual rim protector. It gives them a lob threat, and also, they still have Andre Drummond and Carl Anthony Towns, which gives them more versatility to run count at the floor a little bit. I know Mike Brown doesn't love doing that, and I don't expect that to happen a lot, but it's still a fun thing to try just to see how it works overall and see what makes and matches well, which we know Mike Brown is going to look at. Guys, let me know what you think in the comments down below. Like this video. Subscribe. Turn on post notifications. Have a great day. Go Knicks!