With Amar'e Stoudemire officially gone and Carmelo Anthony prepare to sit for the remainder of the season, the New York Knicks must determine what their short-term future looks like. Currently the owner of the worst record in the NBA, the Knicks are not making the playoffs and could try to become sellers prior to the NBA trade deadline as Phil Jackson continues to seek out deals for a few players heading into Thursday.
The buyout for Amar'e Stoudemire is complete. The power forward agreed to a deal to be released over the weekend and according to the New York Daily News, he is expected to sign with the Dallas Mavericks for the remainder of the season in hopes of winning a title. Now, the Knicks must decide where to go from here. They have yet to successful pull off any trades up to this point following the deal for JR Smith and Iman Shumpert. Anthony told the media during All-Star Weekend that all that matters now for New York is where they go from here and how they build for the future.
"The only thing that matters at this point is about where we're headed as a team, as an organization in the future," Anthony said, vi the New York Daily News. "That's the only thing we can start preparing for. And we have to start preparing for that right now. The time is now for us to start building our future. We have to capitalize on now. I don't have no choice but to trust (Knicks executives) and that was one of the reasons I came back because I trust them. So this is the time where that trust is going to start."
If a trade is pulled off, it will most likely involve Jose Calderon or Pablo Prigioni. A number of teams are eyeing point guard upgrades and depth and those two are some of the best available. Prigioni is easier to move over Calderon, but the veteran holds weight in the league and could be a starter for anyone that lost depth to injuries.
After the trade deadline, the Knicks have their eyes on some of the top free agents this upcoming summer. They will have some big money to spend and plan on targeting top names. Goran Dragic, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marc Gasol are just a few of the names in the works for the Knicks who will use Anthony to recruit. They will have competition for everyone they chase, but the extra salary cap space means they could win out financially.