The NY Knicks have more moves to make after signing Carmelo Anthony this offseason and Phil Jackson has trade options with names like Iman Shumpert, Amar'e Stoudemire, JR Smith and Andrea Bargnani as potential targets and the Indiana Pacers could be interested to help make up for the loss of Paul George and this comes after Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton were already traded to the Mavs.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Pacers are now looking for some support to help replace Paul George in the lineup after his devastating injury and the Knicks could be an option to get a deal done. The team has a glut of guards and names like Iman Shumpert, JR Smith or Shane Larkin could be options for the Pacers to deal for, as the Knicks wouldn't mind making some moves to help with the cap and the lineup.
Reports earlier in the summer had Jackson considering signing Andrew Bynum, but that likely would be next year as the center is looking to sit out this season to rest his knees and get healthy. According to ESPN.com and the NY Post, the Knicks are also looking at Marc Gasol as a target in free agency next season and he is one player the franchise has coveted for a while and now he will be a free agent.
The Knicks have already made some trade moves this summer with the deal of Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks. The deal cleared cap space to sign Carmelo Anthony and also sent away the terrible Felton after he had a bad season and it also got the contract of Chandler off the books and that was big for Jackson as he tries to build this team.
The Knicks had a terrible start last season and won only three games in their first 16 and they cannot afford to start like that again this year. The Pacers now are in a tough situation with the George injury and they have to do something to replace him. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the team may look at Gary Forbes and MarShon Brooks in free agency as options, while names like Jeff Green and JR Smith could be trade targets for the team.
The Knicks even made a trade offer to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love and while the team knew that the deal would not go through, Phil Jackson felt he had to at least make an offer. Earlier in the offseason New York was mentioned in a group of teams that Love would play for and that's why Jackson made the offer. The team offered Amar'e, Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway in the deal but the Wolves rejected that and now it looks like the Cavaliers have that trade all sealed up.
The Pacers are still going to be a playoff team and the Knicks may get back to the postseason as well and now Indiana must find a way to make up for the lost production of George. No one can really replace George in the lineup, but Indy now has the chance to reshape their team, as he will be out for at least a year recovering from that injury. George said that he will be back and better than ever and he got a good prognosis from the surgery and the procedure was a successful one for him and now he is on the long road to getting back healthy.
