The Knicks are still in a great spot after Draft Lottery

The New York Knicks missed out on the NBA Draft prize, Zion Williamson, after winning the third overall pick in the Draft Lottery Tuesday night. This came after the other two “favorites” to win #1 overall, Cleveland and Phoenix, were relegated to the fifth and sixth picks.

New Orleans got the top spot and Memphis won number two in a Draft Lottery that could be the formula going forward. This new Draft Lottery formula proved that tanking means nothing and that this is the most “fair” way to determine who gets the top pick.

While New Orleans comes away with Zion Williamson, this opens up the door for the Knicks to maneuver a few different ways. Firstly, without any trade offers or outside noise, the Knicks have the chance to draft either stud guard Ja Morant or freshman star R.J. Barrett. Morant and Barrett are two of the better top three picks in the past decade and even though there’s a dropoff from Zion to Morant and his former teammate Barrett, the Knicks would be getting a quality player whichever way Memphis picks.

Where it gets very interesting is the possible trade scenarios for the Knicks. They could use their #3 overall to entice the New Orleans Pelicans into trading Anthony Davis to them. The Knicks would more than likely need to give up the #3 pick, Kevin Knox, and at least Mitchell Robinson and Dennis Smith Jr. in order to get Davis. In my mind, it’s not worth it because you can’t build a whole team around two or three guys and who knows what the future holds for any of the Knicks’ young players.

It’s crazy to say but even though the Knicks don’t have the top pick in the draft or Zion Williamson, they’re still in a very good spot come free agency. They have flexibility in their cap after dumping all their big contracts and Kristaps Porzingis in the trade with Dallas, and there are major rumblings that some combination of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and possibly Kemba Walker will be joining the Knicks after the season is over.

Compound that with some nice young stars in Smith Jr., Knox (even with his inconsistencies) and Robinson and you have a pretty formidable team. The Knicks aren’t perfecft and there’s still plenty of room to screw this up, but the Knicks are in the best spot they’ve been in in over a decade. They have all the potential in the world. They just need to make sure they don’t mess up their newfound opportunity.