1 deal the Knicks must make during the 2025-26 NBA trade season

The The New York Knicks have endured a slow start in the 2025-26 season and are now 20-8 on the season after beating the Miami Heat 132-125 on Sunday night. They’ve already accomplished something on the season, winning the NBA Cup trophy, but their ambitions go far beyond that piece of regular season silverware as they look to snap their 53-year title drought next season.

The Knicks have a healthy net rating of plus-7.7, suggesting they are as good as their record. Many expected the Knicks to have a big season, even with Mike Brown replacing longtime head coach Tom Thibodeau at the helm, and with their added depth, they were as good as advertised.

But every team in the NBA looks up to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a historically great defensive team that is on a fast track to repeat as champions, despite a recent loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Knicks will need to bolster their roster even more if they really want to overcome the problem, and recent reports indicate that they are indeed interested in adding more to the team.

To that end, here’s a trade the Knicks must make now that we’re past December 15th.

The Knicks are beefing up their guard rotation Jose Alvarado trade

Knicks acquire: Jose Alvarado

Pelicans acquire: Pacome Dadiet, Landry Shamet, 2026 second-round pick (from ORL/DET/MIL), 2027 NIK second-round pick

If the Knicks were to have their way, they’ll target a bigger name than Jose Alvarado. However, New York’s transactions in recent years have stripped them of nearly all of their viable trade assets, and as much as they’d like to maximize their current core’s title chances, they’d like to keep at least some of their future draft picks to supplement their expensive core.

As for larger trade goals, The Knicks might be able to bring in someone like Donte DiVincenzo back from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Or maybe they could target another player from the New Orleans Pelicans in Herb Jones, who could impact Alex Caruso for the team moving forward.

However, these trade scenarios are unsustainable for the Knicks. Trading DiVincenzo may be financially possible, but it will require the Knicks to give up a major piece of Mitchell Robinson, someone the team will be reluctant to trade.

Of course, Karl-Anthony Towns is locked in as the Knicks’ starting center. But Robinson’s impact on a winning team cannot be understated. He’s arguably the best offensive rebounder in the league and is a legitimate rim protector – someone who could be useful on the court for New York in terms of matching up against any type of team.

Robinson and Towns can share the same frontcourt, with the latter having plenty of experience playing the four. And the former can always come off the bench and provide a spark with his defense and effort on the glass.

Some think the Knicks could get away with trading Robinson just so they could bring back Di Vincenzo. However, that would mean that Ariel Huckporty would become the team’s best starting player. While the team clearly likes Hookporty, he’s not even in the same league as a rebounder or defender, and he didn’t play a minute on Sunday in their win over the Heat.

suffice to say, losing Robinson is not a very attractive outcome for the Knicks, knocking them out of the running for DiVincenzo.

On the other hand, acquiring Jones will require the Knicks to part with what is left of their future draft capital. But even then, the picks they owe the Brooklyn Nets thanks to the 2024 Mikal Bridges trade will prevent them from doing so.

They owe the Nets their 2027, 2029 and 2031 first-round picks unprotected to go along with the 2028 pick trade.Due to the Stepien Rule, New York I can only trade picks in 2026, 2030 and 2032 — a prospect that won’t exactly be enticing for the Pelicans.

They can also deal a 2026 first-rounder from the Washington Wizards who is protected from selections one through eight. Considering the Wizards currently have the worst record in the league, that would likely become two second-round picks, per the terms of the deal.

Trading the 2026 pick is worthless to the Pelicans since New Orleans doesn’t even have their pick for next year. Will the Pelicans be better than the Knicks in 2030 and 2032? Maybe, but New Orleans would instead want guaranteed extra picks in any Jones trade scenario.

This would leave the Knicks with Jose Alvarado, someone they are reportedly interested in trading.

One would think the Knicks don’t really need point guard help. Myles McBride is battle tested and has plenty of playoff experience for New York. Jordan Clarkson has also gone through the war in the past and has established himself as an important player in the rotation in recent games. Even Tyler Kolek makes an appearanceplaying a huge role in recent games, including their NBA Cup triumph over the San Antonio Spurs.

But Alvarado is a pest on defense and can run from beyond the arc. Clarkson can always provide some minutes for the 3 off the bench if needed. Kolek may not be ready for playoff minutes anyway.

Alvarado is a spark plug that will inevitably be a favorite among Knicks fans. His hiding on the bench just so he could pull off a steal would do the numbers in the Big Apple. And it gives the Knicks even more insurance in the event of an injury to a key figure on the bench. for example, McBride is currently on the mend.

New York will give Pacome Dadiet and Landry Shamet along with two second-round picks for Alvarado in this scenario. Dadiet is out of the rotation. Shamet is currently injured. Guerschon Iabusele might be the odd man out, but maintaining frontcourt depth could be important for a Knicks team with championship aspirations.