Should the Knicks Buy Low on Robert Williams III?

Only two active players in the NBA are currently averaging more than 3.5 blocks and more than 1.5 steals per 100 possessions for their careers: Mitchell Robinson and Robert Williams III

Happy 4th of July, everybody!!

Here is some Knicks-related news before we look at another potential trade candidate and you head off to your BBQ's:

🏀 Alex O'Connell will suit up for the Knicks Summer League squad in Vegas later this month, according to Ian Begley of SNY. 

The 25-year-old O'Connell played collegiately at Duke and Creighton but went undrafted in 2022. He spent the 2022-23 season in the G League with the Stockton Kings, averaging 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 21.7 minutes per game. The Westchester Knicks acquired O'Connell's rights from Stockton before the 2023-24 campaign, but he ended up playing overseas for Reyer Venezia in Italy. 

Per Begley, O'Connell impressed the Knicks' front office at a recent free agent mini-camp, and New York inked him to an Exhibit 10 contract (a deal that doesn't count against NY's cap unless the player makes the regular season roster). 

We are just nine days away from the Knicks Summer League opener! 

🏀 Alec Burks has agreed on a one-year deal with the Miami Heat, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday.

Burks was not expected to return to New York, but this news means the Knicks can no longer include Burks as a sign-and-trade piece in a trade (unless the Heat shed enough salary via a separate to drop under the first apron - but that aint gonna happen). 

🏀 After being waived by Utah on Monday, Omer Yurtseven cleared waivers on Wednesday and is now an unrestricted free agent.

After beginning his NBA career in Miami, Yurtseven played for the Jazz last season and had a non-guaranteed contract worth $2.6 million for the 2024-25 campaign. He appeared in 48 games for Utah, including 12 starts, and averaged 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per game.

He's been highly productive on a per-possession basis throughout his career but has yet to find a permanent home. For his career, Yurtseven has averaged 15.1 points, 14.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per-36 minutes. Could be worth taking a flier on…

🏀 An interesting tweet courtesy of Keith Smart of Spotrac yesterday: "Talking to some teams tonight and it sounds like what's being worked on now is expanding some of the previously agreed upon trades. There are also talks of tying some deals together into bigger deals. Essentially, teams are trying to find ways to make mutually beneficial trades."

When asked specifically about the Knicks-Nets Mikal Bridges swap, Smart responded, "This is one of the deals that has been talked about being expanded."

This is certainly not surprising, as it has been assumed since news of the trade first broke that New York would search to find a way to add roughly $4.3 million in salary to make up the difference between Bridges and Bojan Bogdanovic to prevent being hard-capped at the first apron. 

🏀 On Wednesday, we examined New York's possibility of running at Walker Kessler. (As an aside, I checked in with a league source based in Utah yesterday, who told me he believed the Jazz would move Kessler for the right price, as "they weren't thrilled with his lack of development" last season. The source noted, unsurprisingly, that Danny Ainge would prefer/seek draft capital in exchange for the seven-footer.)

While meeting Ainge's asking price for Kessler would likely be quite tricky, there's another big man out West that is far more attainable: Portland's Robert Williams III.