The Knicks included six first-round picks alongside Bojan Bogdanovic (and now Shake Milton) to land Mikal Bridges (and now Keita Bates-Diop) from the Nets.
The massive draft asset haul for the Nets begs one question at Madison Square Garden: Do the Knicks have any draft picks left to trade in a deal for a star?
The answer is yes, but it’s not many.
The Knicks traded their own first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031 to facilitate the Bridges deal. They also traded the Milwaukee Bucks’ top-four protected first-round pick in 2025 (virtually guaranteed to convey given the Bucks’ status as championship contenders), as well as swap rights to their own first-round pick in 2028.
Which leaves the Knicks with the following picks in their draft asset treasure chest:
- The Detroit Pistons top-13 protected pick in 2025, acquired as part of the Ousmane Dieng trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022. This pick becomes top-11 protected in 2026 and top-9 protected in 2027. If the pick doesn’t convey by 2027, it becomes a 2027 second-round pick.
- The Washington Wizards’ top-10 protected pick in 2025, also acquired in the 2022 Dieng trade with Oklahoma City. This pick becomes top-eight protected in 2026. If the Wizards do not finish outside of the top-eight in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery, this pick will instead convey as a pair of second-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
- Their own first-round picks in 2026, 2030 and 2032
- The least favorable of the Knicks’ own pick and Brooklyn’s pick in 2028.
That leaves six first-round picks left at the front office’s disposal.
Which of these picks can the Knicks include in a trade?
The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement’s features the Ted Stepien Rule, which mandates NBA teams select a player in the first round of a draft once every other year. This is why teams frequently trade picks in staggered draft classes.
The Knicks traded their 2027 first-round pick, but they own their first-round pick in 2026 and own two potential firsts via Washington and Detroit in 2025.
So the Knicks can trade those protected 2025 first-round picks from the Pistons and Wizards because they own a pick in 2026. As a note, teams cannot add further protections onto picks received in a deal (for example: the Pistons pick is top-13 protected in 2025. The Knicks cannot trade this pick to another team with protections from 13-20 added on top.)
So since New York traded its own picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031, the team cannot trade its picks in 2026, 2028, 2030 or 2032.
The Detroit pick is unlikely to convey until 2027, and the Washington pick could convey in 2025 but has a better chance to convey when its protections decrease to top-9 in 2026.
There’s also the new seven-year rule as part of the new collective bargaining agreement, and the Knicks are in play to be impacted by this rule should their payroll exceed the $188.9 million second apron.
Any team that finishes the season above the second apron will have its first-round pick seven years later (in this case, 2032) frozen. If that team remains over the second apron for two of the following four seasons, that frozen first-round pick will then be moved to the end of the first round of the draft.
The Knicks can’t include the 2032 pick in a trade anyway because the Stepien Rule makes it ineligible for trade after they sent their 2031 pick to Brooklyn in the Bridges deal.
So the Knicks have two picks. Is that enough to land a star player?
It depends on which star player, as well as which player the Knicks are willing to give up in a deal for a star.
Recent history suggests four first-round picks is the starting point in negotiations for any superstar-level player. In fact, the Knicks gave up five firsts, a first swap and a second for Bridges, a talented player who has never made an All-Star team.
Here are other trades involving stars and draft capital in recent memory:
- The New Orleans Pelicans traded two first-round picks, Larry Nance Jr. and Dyson Daniels to the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray, a one-time NBA All-Star. The move was viewed as a steal for the Pelicans because the Hawks traded three first-round picks and a pick swap to acquire Murray from the San Antonio Spurs.
- The Portland Trail Blazers traded two first-round picks (including the No. 14 overall pick in the June NBA Draft), two second-round picks and veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon to the Wizards for 23-year-old Deni Avdija, who was the ninth-overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft
- The Minnesota Timberwolves traded four first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, four role players and the No. 22 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft (Walker Kessler) to the Utah Jazz for perennial Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert
- And the Phoenix Suns traded Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round picks and a first-round pick swap to acquire Kevin Durant from the Nets
The Knicks also traded the Nets back their own 2025 second-round pick and received a 2026 second-round pick as part of the Bridges deal. The Nets project to be one of, if not the worst team in basketball next season, which means that 2025 second-round pick could be No. 31 in the 2025 NBA Draft.
As far as second-round picks, here is what the Knicks owned prior to draft night:
- Detroit’s top-55 protected 2025 pick (unlikely to convey)
- Their own 2027 and 2031 second-round picks
- The less favorable of the Suns’ and Indiana Pacers’ picks in 2028
- The less favorable of the Pacers’ and Wizards’ picks in 2030
The Knicks also acquired five second-round picks as part of the deal sending the No. 26 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft to the Oklahoma City Thunder:
- Most favorable of Boston and Memphis’ second-round picks in 2025
- Golden State Warriors’ 2026 second-round pick
- Minnesota Timberwolves’ 2027 pick
- And both the second- and third-most favorable of Oklahoma City, Houston, Miami and Indiana in 2027
The Knicks, however, also traded second-round picks in 2027, 2029 and 2030 to the Trail Blazers for the 34th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, which they used to select Tyler Kolek out of Marquette.
There are no rules on the number or cadence with which second-round picks can be moved, which makes them a valuable asset for a Knicks team short on tradable first-round draft assets should New York be in the market for another star.
