After the OG Anunoby trade, the Knicks desperately needed scoring off the bench to replace Immanuel Quickley.
In 20 games since the trade, New York is ranked 29th in the league with 24.7 points off the bench per game, compared to 34.5 bench points in 31 games before the deal was done.
The Knicks filled that bench scoring need when they made the deal to acquire veteran forward Bojan Bogdanovic and veteran wing Alec Burks at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, but it was not easy to do so.
At first, the Pistons weren’t sure if they wanted to trade Bogdanovic and Burks. The Knicks managed to convince Detroit to agree to the trade.
“The decision-making process in Detroit wasn’t straightforward,” according to Knicks insider Ian Begley of SNY. “Some members of the organization wanted to keep Bogdanovic and try to win games. Others wanted to move off of veterans like Burks and Bogdanovic and acquire younger players/draft capital.”
In the end, the latter group won out.”
Bogdanovic and Burks will both provide much needed depth especially given all of the injuries the Knicks are currently dealing with. They’re expected to be important pieces now and moving forward into the playoffs.
“From Our Haus to Yours”
Featured photo courtesy of NBA.com.