25. New York Knicks: 8 points
- 2004: Trevor Ariza: 0.5
- 2005: David Lee: 6 (2x all-star, 1x 3rd team, 1.5x multiplier for pick outside of lottery)
- 2008: Danilo Gallinari: 0.5
- 2015: Kristaps Porzingis: 1 (1x all-star)
The draft has not been kind to the Knickerbockers. The Knicks have been bad for most of this century (the only teams with fewer wins during that time are the Pelicans and Hornets, neither of which even had a team for all 20 years), but usually not bad enough in a single season.
Since 2000, they’ve had a pick in the lottery nine times. Seven of those picks landed between No. 6 and No. 10, which traditionally is too late to get a franchise changer. One of the other two was in 2015 when they used the 4th pick on Kristaps Porzingis and then traded him for a couple of contracts and some protected Mavericks picks in 2021 and 2023 (those picks probably won’t be great if Luka Doncic continues playing the way he is). The other pick was last year when they took R.J. Barrett with the 3rd pick. Barrett might turn out to be good, but it’s far too early to tell what he really is.
The Knicks are a big market team that drafts poorly and signs free agents like a market much smaller than New York City – not a great combo. Unless they can get higher-end free agents to come to play at MSG, they’ll need to have more of their draft picks start panning out for them.