The New York Knicks are off to a franchise worst start this season and after dealing with injuries to a number of players in Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton, the team has explored some potential trades involving Kenneth Faried and Kyle Lowry and another option could be interesting with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Nick Collison.
This deal has not been one that has been discussed or talked about, but ESPN.com writer Marc Stein proposed this as a potential option for the Knicks. While Tyson Chandler is looking like he will be back before New Year's or soon after, the Knicks need more depth up front and with Amare Stoudemire playing some heavy minutes and Chandler coming back from an injury, they may need more players on the front line and they could take advantage of the fact that the Thunder could use someone like Shumpert. The team had discussed deals with the Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets at various times for Shumpert and that could come up again soon.
The Knicks and Denver Nuggets were talking a deal for Shumpert and Kenneth Faried last month and while that fell apart, it showed the Knicks were willing to deal Shumpert in exchange for some size. The team also had been looking into a trade with the Toronto Raptors involving Raymond Felton and possibly Shumpert for Kyle Lowry, but the Raptors reportedly were asking for too much in the deal and now that appears to have fallen apart.
According to ESPN.com, with Felton being injured for the next couple weeks after undergoing an MRI, the team explored a potential trade for Lowry. The report said that the Raptors want at least two players and possibly a future first round pick and names that were mentioned included Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. along with Felton and the first round pick and James Dolan felt that was too much for a deal. This comes after the raptors dealt Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings and follows a plan that Masai Ujiri put in place to start rebuilding. There is a chance a deal could get worked out eventually, but right now any hopes of that are done.
Chandler said that he hopes to be back soon after averaging 7.3 points and 9.0 rebounds in four games and that would be huge for the Knicks, as they have been struggling on defense all season and they have been slumping hard after winning the division last season, starting off 6-15 and now they play against the Celtics on Friday and after that the team plays again at home against the Atlanta Hawks and they need to get back on track to pull themselves out after tying the franchise record for the worst start to the season.