The New York Knicks need to walk away from potential Butler trade

The New York Knicks currently have a conundrum on their hands.  On one hand, Jimmy Butler, who has requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, is requesting a trade and has New York penciled in as one of his preferred destinations.  It’s rare for the Knicks to be on a very short list like that, especially in the middle of a multiple year rebuild.  On the other hand, the Knicks may be falling into another trap, this time for Jimmy Butler instead of Carmelo Anthony.

While Butler is in the upper echelon of young superstars and has great potential, the Knicks need to avoid trading for him at all costs.  The Knicks do not want to make the same mistake they made in trading for Carmelo Anthony.  They mortgaged their future by way of multiple draft picks and young players for Anthony, and will most likely have to do the same for Butler.  Why else do the Knicks need to stay away?

Can easily wait for free agency

With Butler showing interest in the Knicks, there are also widespread rumors that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant are also interested in the Knicks.  If even one of them hop on board, the Knicks could lure Butler without having to give up a boatload of picks and prospects.

Butler is a star, but he’s not on the level of Irving or Durant.  Mortgaging your future on a player that has a history of injuries and isn’t a top five player in the NBA doesn’t guarantee anything.  All it shows is that the team hasn’t learned their lesson.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results

The great Albert Einstein once penned this, and it’s never been more true than with the New York Knicks.  Why have the Knicks been stuck in a black hole for over a decade?  One word; repetition

The Knicks are repeat offenders in making almost every textbook mistake a basketball team could make.  They repeatedly sign over the hill veterans to bloated contracts (Eddy Curry, Jerome James, Jamam Crawford, Joakim Noah).  They love taking big basketball names and putting them in positions of power, regardless of how little experience or success they have (Isaiah Thomas, Phil Jackson), and they trade for overrated players while giving up tons of assets (Steve Francis, Andrea Bargnarni, Carmelo Anthony).

The best thing the Knicks can do is break that cycle and stick to the course they set.  They have some good assets in Kristaps Porzingis, Kevin Knox and Tim Hardaway Jr.  The French Prince Frank Ntilikina is a work in progress, but they seem to be building towards something.  Trading some of those assets for Jimmy Butler will just muddle that process once again.

Where are they going this season anyway?

A Jimmy Butler led Knicks team looks great on paper, but what’s going to be around him?  The Timberwolves will surely want Kevin Knox as the main piece of the deal.  While the Knicks may not know what they have with Knox, why trade him without at least first playing him?

The Knicks aren’t in a rush to become good.  Knicks fans are some of the most loyal people on Earth and they have no issues filling Madison Square Garden.  Basketball is better when the Knicks are good, and Jimmy Butler takes the Knicks from a bad team to a mediocre team.  Passing on the Butler trade will make the Knicks better in the long run.  If they wind up taking the bait again, it will be more of the same, and the Knicks will set themselves back another five years.