Knicks quiet deadline: Rose, Fournier, Toppin stay put amidst team’s identity crisis

The New York Knicks got off to a fast start to the NBA trade deadline, pulling off a deal on Wednesday night to bring guard/forward Josh Hart to town; a trade we liked and discussed in detail earlier today. However, despite a number of rumors, the team was silent for the remainer of the deadline, meaning that Derrick Rose, Evan Fournier, and Obi Toppin will all remain in New York. 

It’s a surprising end to what started off as an intriguing deadline but what does it mean for the rest of this season?

For starters, it would be highly unlikely for Derrick Rose or Evan Fournier to re-enter the rotation barring injury. That means the Knicks will have $32.5 million sitting unused at the end of the bench. 

Yet, it was likely those contracts that made it hard for New York to trade either player. 

The Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, and a few other teams had been linked to Rose as a veteran point guard to bring off of the bench. When the Bucks traded five second-round picks to the Nets for Jae Crowder and Serge Ibaka to the Pacers in the same deal, it took Milwaukee out of the running for Rose by taking away almost all of their tradable assets.

A prominent rumor in the final hour before the deadline was that Rose would be part of a deal to make the salaries work for the Knicks to acquire Zach LaVine, but nothing came of that as the deadline passed. 

There were also rumors that Rose would be paired with Obi Toppin in a trade that could bring the Knicks a key rotation piece. Even though Toppin is a fan favorite, he can’t seem to crack a 15-minute ceiling under head coach Tom Thibodeau, regardless of how well he plays. Toppin will be in the final year of his contract next year and since he seemingly has no role with New York under Thibodeau as long as Julius Randle remains healthy, it made some sense to use him to free the team of Rose’s salary and bring in a player that could be a strong wing defender or valuable floor spacer. 

Instead, both players will remain in New York. 

Rose has a $15.5 million club option for next season that the team will almost certainly decline, and there’s a chance his contract could even be bought out for the remainder of this year. Toppin’s future role in New York is much murkier and will likely be a topic of conversation through the summer. 

The Dayton product has shown flashes of floor-spacing shooting, and his abilities in transition and as a slasher are clear when you watch even one minute of him on the court. Yet, his upside remains capped in New York with a coach who won’t play small ball lineups and is hesitant to take his starters off of the floor. 

It was also reported today that the Knicks front office is high on Toppin, while Thibodeau is not convinced about his basketball IQ.

Knicks executive William Wesley has a love affair with Obi Toppin and they set asking price way too high. Thibodeau still has reservations on Obi’s basketball IQ.

— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) February 9, 2023

After New York traded for Cam Reddish last year only for Thibodeau to refuse to play him, it seems like a poor strategy to forcibly hold onto another player that the front office likes who the head coach doesn’t. 

Unless you’re not sure you want to keep the head coach. 

It’s possible that the Knicks front office wanted one more year with Toppin in case that year doesn’t come with Thibodeau at the helm. There have been enough calls for Thibodeau’s firing that an early exit in the playoffs could make that a reality. The recent addition of Josh Hart hasn’t lessened that with new speculation that the Knicks could be angling to bring former Villanova coach Jay Wright out of retirement to coach a few of his old players. 

But if Thibodeau remains the Knicks’ coach next year, then there is a real possibility that Toppin’s New York tenure will be most remembered for being taken 8th overall in the 2020 Draft before players like Tyrese Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, Tyrese Maxey, and Devin Vassell, players who have a skill-set that paired better with a player like Randle from the start. 

It will go down as a major swing-and-miss for this front office.

So, it appears, will the free-agent signing of Evan Fournier, who also remains a New York Knick. Fournier was signed to a four-year, $73 million contract before last season and averaged just 14.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists last year on 41.7% shooting. He was off to a slow start again this year before being removed from the rotation entirely. 

With Fournier under contract for next season as well, there is no immediate course of action to see how the Knicks can get themselves out from under his deal. While he has stepped up when the team has been hit with injuries, like his effort last weekend in a win over the 76ers, the addition of Hart makes it even harder to see how Fournier works his way back onto the court unless a slew of injuries hits this team. 

So after a deadline that started well, the Knicks remain a team caught between identities.

They have assembled a talented rotation that just got a little deeper and more well-rounded, but they have some personnel compatibility issues. They have a talented young core but a bench construction that refuses to embrace that youth movement, saddling them with over-priced veterans that don’t play. They have not assembled a team that matches the defense-first mentality of their coach, and, furthermore, they might not even envision this team being coached by that coach. 

While the play on the court has been much better this year, and there is a lot to be excited about, the continued disconnect within the front office and between the front office and the head coach remains a major issue that could derail the long-term outlook of this team. 

For more Knicks coverage, like this trade deadline article, visit amNY Sports