Knicks deal to get UK’s Quickley
A winding path led the Knicks to another member of the Kentucky Wildcats.
Point guard Immanuel Quickley was drafted 25th by New York on Wednesday, a move that followed two trades and a shrewd maneuver from neophyte team prez Leon Rose. Quickley, 21, was the SEC Player of the Year after averaging 16.1 points as a sophomore at Kentucky.
The Knicks have strong ties to the Wildcats program, with top executive World Wide Wesley serving as an agent and unofficial liaison to John Calipari. They also hired former Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne for Tom Thibodeau’s staff. Payne coached Quickly last season in Lexington.
“The Knicks are getting a worker, a great kid, a terrific basketball player,” Calipari proclaimed.
The Knicks began Wednesday with the 27th and 38th picks, but traded both for the 23rd pick. The plan was to flip the 23rd and the 8th picks to move into the top-5. But that wasn’t necessary because Obi Toppin fell to 8, and Rose scooped up the power forward. Then he dealt the 23rd pick for Nos. 25 and 33.
To recap: the Knicks started with 27 and 38, and turned that into 25 and 33 without giving up anything extra. The 33rd pick, which became center Daniel Oturu from Minnesota, was then traded by the Knicks to the Clippers for a 2023 second-round pick (which originally belonged to the Pistons). Get all that?
After all the movement and pick gymnastics, the Knicks chose Quickley, a projected second rounder who is considered a reach at No. 25 and largely played as the two-guard last season while only averaging 1.9 assists in 33 minutes. Quickley joins two other Kentucky players on New York’s roster – Julius Randle and Kevin Knox – and a complicated backcourt. The Knicks already have recent lottery picks Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. at point guard. Both are only a year older than Quickley, who isn’t lacking confidence.
“I can play on and off the ball. … Defensively I can guard both guard positions. At Kentucky, I became one of the better defenders, I feel like I was versatile,” he said. “Original I was a point guard, but at Kentucky I went to the 2. And I feel like people forgot I was a point guard my whole life before that, a McDonald’s All-American and all that.”
The Knicks are also weighing a trade for Houston point guard Russell Westbrook. Another option is throwing a big money at Toronto point guard Fred VanVleet in free agency.
HORFORD TO OKC
The Philadelphia 76ers are moving on from Al Horford and will trade him and a protected future first-round pick to Oklahoma City in a major draft-night trade.
A person with direct knowledge of the trade told The Associated Press on Wednesday the Sixers will receive Danny Green and Terrance Ferguson from the Thunder. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet announced.
The Sixers also sent a 2025 first-round protected from 1-6 overall. The Sixers also sent the 34th pick in Wednesday’s draft to the Thunder and the rights to European point guard Vasilije Micic.
The 76ers traded Horford more than a year after he was considered a ballyhooed free-agent signing away for their rival Boston Celtics. Horford was a flop in the first season of a four-year contract worth $97 million and lost his starting spot late in the season. The Thunder are the on hook for Horford’s $27.5 million this season. He averaged 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in his lone season with the Sixers. He never fit in playing alongside franchise center Joel Embiid and was the biggest disappointment in a season that cost coach Brett Brown his job.
This was the first major move under the new regime of team president Daryl Morey and coach Doc Rivers and shed the salary that appeared to hinder the Sixers from making any other major moves.