New York Knicks could be a dark horse landing spot for Bradley Beal
What Bradley Beal gives the New York Knicks off-the-court
While on-court production is going to be incredibly important moving forward and is the key reason why Bradley Beal would be traded for by the New York Knicks, it is arguable that his importance off-the-court is more important than on.
What is the one thing that Bradley Beal on the New York Knicks offers?
Beal offers the Knicks a legit star for one of the premier franchises in sports but he also offers other stars an ability to join him on the Knicks and become superstars both on and off the court. Once you have one star, landing the second star becomes a little bit easier.
What is something the trade for Beal does? It lines the Knicks up perfectly to go star chasing in 2021.
With Julius Randle, Kevin Knox, and RJ Barrett off the books, The Knicks will only have Bradley Beal, Mitchell Robinson, and Ignas Brazdeikis (a team option) under contract going into the summer of 2021, which frees up $60-plus million for the Knicks to be really aggressive in landing stars in free agency.
Obviously, the crown jewel would be the current MVP and Defensive Player of the year Giannis Antetokounmpo. With Beal on the roster, the Knicks would have as good of chance as any to land Giannis.
A big market team, a respected head coach, a stacked front office, free range to do whatever he wanted with the roster and build a contender around him, and more importantly, cap room to bring the third star with him.
With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George butting heads in LA, one of them or both can decline their player option and become free agents in 2021.
A more realistic option would be Indiana Pacers shooting guard Victor Oladipo or Rudy Gobert but the Knicks would have a glut of options to choose from and enough cap space to offer Giannis Antetokounmpo his very own super-team in one of the biggest markets and stages in professional sports.
A starting lineup of:
- C Mitchell Robinson
- PF Giannis Antetokounmpo
- SF Kawhi Leonard
- SG Bradley Beal
- PG Frank Ntilikna
This lineup would be devastating defensively as well as awesome offensively. A perfect match in coach Thibs’ system.