Knicks News and Rumor Roundup

Something funky going down in Dallas??

With the OKC Thunder capturing the 2025 NBA Championship, we've officially entered the offseason.

Some dates to keep in mind: As of this morning, teams can officially begin negotiating with their own free agents. The first round of the 2025 NBA draft takes place on Wednesday night, with the second round scheduled for the following evening. Next Monday, one week from today, teams can start meeting with all free agents. Summer League in Las Vegas begins on July 10th

🏀 Before Game 7 tipped off Sunday night, we got word that the Suns had finally pulled the trigger on a Kevin Durant deal.

Per numerous published reports, Phoenix will send KD to Houston in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, a 2025 first-round pick (No. 10) and five future second-round picks.

After weeks of countless rumors (involving Miami, Minnesota, New York and several other clubs), Durant finally has a new home. The trade can be formally completed when the new league year begins on July 6.

It's an excellent deal for the Rockets. They address their offensive spacing issues by adding one of the best scorers in the history of the sport. And, as I noted in a post earlier this month, KD is still paying at a high level despite his advanced age (he'll turn 37 this summer). This past season, Durant averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and a career-high 2.6 made three-pointers while shooting a blistering 52.7% from the floor, 43% from downtown and 83.9% from the free-throw stripe. In the process, he became the first player ever to shoot above 52% from the field and above 42% from distance in the same year (min. 1,000+ FGAs and 300+ 3PTAs).

KD will provide much-needed spacing and efficient offense for a defensively-minded Rockets club that finished with the second-best record in the Western Conference in 2024-25. Most importantly, the Rockets add Durant while holding onto their budding cornerstones (Alperen Şengün and Amen Thompson) as well as their remarkable stash of young talent. The Rockets have made five top-20 picks in the past three years (Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith, Cam Whitmore, Tari Eason, Reed Sheppard), and the Suns couldn't pry any of them from Houston in a deal for Kevin Durant.

As for Phoenix, this is obviously a big, massive bet on Jalen Green. While the athletic 23-year-old has shown plenty of flashes and promise over his first four years in the NBA, he's shot below 43% from the floor and below 36% from three-point range every season of his career.

Worse yet, in his first taste of playoff action this year, he was MIA far too often. During the Rockets' seven-game series loss to Golden State, Green averaged 13.3 points per game, 2.9 assists and 1.9 made three-pointers while shooting 37.2% from the floor, 29.5% from deep and 66.7% from the FT line.

Last summer, Green inked a three-year extension that will pay him a total of $106 million over the next three seasons. I've seen a few pundits posit that the Rockets included the 10th overall pick in the deal just to unload Green's contract.

Stepping back and taking a broader view of the collapse in Phoenix is staggering.

On Opening Night of the 2022-23 season, this was the Suns' starting lineup:

PG: Chris Paul (who led the NBA in assists and finished top-10 in MVP voting the prior season)

SG: Devin Booker (who was 1st Team All-NBA and top-5 in MVP voting the prior season)

F: Mikal Bridges (who was 1st Team All-Defense and finished second in DPOY the prior season)

F: Cam Johnson

Center: DeAndre Ayton

The Suns dismantled that team (which had just two years removed from a Final appearance) by trading Bridges and Johnson and four unprotected first-round picks, five unprotected first-round pick swaps, and five second-round picks for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

Almost unimaginable.

🏀 As for Game 7 itself, the Tyrese Haliburton injury early in the first quarter really bummed me out. The Pacers fought tough without their leader but were overmatched by OKC in the second half

Haliburton is the third star to suffer a debilitating Achilles tear this postseason. He is the eighth player to suffer a torn Achilles this season. The high number of injuries throughout the league will be a talking point all offseason, and one clear way to address the issue is by reducing the number of games played during the regular season.

With the NBA's increased space-and-pace style (teams averaged 108.9 possessions per game in 2024-25), the reality is that players are covering far more ground than ever on a nightly basis.

However, considering the massive amount of money generated by the new TV contract, we can assume that option won't even be seriously considered by the powers that be.

Limiting the amount of minutes stars log each night will likely come under greater scrutiny league-wide moving forward. The Thunder laid out a blueprint in certain respects. Under head coach Mark Daigneault (a former Holy Cross Crusader!), 12 different OKC players averaged more than 16 minutes per game in 2024-25.

In years past, the goal of front offices was to create "Super Teams" consisting of two or three superstars and a few quality role players. Today, you want a young, athletic DEEP roster.

(And a coach willing to protect players from themselves, which brings us to the Knicks coaching search…)

🏀 Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) suggested last week that the Knicks are not expected to hire a head coach until after the draft. Both Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins have completed their first round of interviews and seem to be the favorites at this point.

In a piece published by The Athletic this morning, James L. Edwards III reports that the Knicks "are still going through the process of finding a new head coach" and are in no rush, as they are the only team in the league with a vacancy, and thus have no immediate competition. Edwards adds that both Jenkins and former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown interviewed over multiple days and were "impressive."

Edwards also reports that New York has "tossed around the idea" of speaking with James Borrego, a CAA client, who coached the Charlotte Hornets for four years and spent last season as an assistant in New Orleans.

It's also worth noting that multiple outlets around the league continue to mention that Jason Kidd remains a possibility. Unlike Ime Udoka (who agreed to a long-term extension with the Rockets) and Billy Donovan (who has purportedly inked an extension with the Bulls), the Mavs have not yet decided to tack on additional years/money to Kidd's current contract.

In addition, it was announced yesterday that former Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney is leaving Dallas to become the associate head coach of the Spurs. This is notable because Sweeney has served as an assistant under Kidd everywhere Kidd has served as a head coach (first in Brooklyn, then Milwaukee, and Dallas).

Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweeted last night: "Unfortunately, it sounds like Sean Sweeney didn't want to leave and Mavs just didn't do enough to keep him."

The contracts for Kidd's other assistants (Jared Dudley and God Shammgod) are set to expire at the end of June.

Something funky going on within that organization??

🏀 Partly as a result of the devastating injuries to Tatum, Haliburton and Lillard, the Knicks have been installed as the favorites to win the East - and have the second-best odds to win an NBA championship - next season.

🏀 It looks like the Knicks' entry in the Las Vegas Summer League next month will feature an enticing young center.