As the Knicks’ front office waits for the next disgruntled NBA superstar to seek relocation, their former GM issued a warning about relying on that strategy for a significant roster upgrade.
Scott Perry, who left the organization over the summer after six years as the team’s general manager, said this week that unhappy players frequently remain that way even after they switch teams.
“Me personally, you have to proceed with real caution. … There’s no guarantee that he’s going to become not disgruntled when he comes to your team.”
“Me personally, you have to proceed with real caution. … There’s no guarantee that he’s going to become not disgruntled when he comes to your team.”
The Knicks, who are 5-5 entering Wednesday’s road game against the Hawks, continue to monitor the situations involving various All-Stars with other teams, most prominently Joel Embiid of the 76ers, Zion Williamson of the Pelicans and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves.
They also attempted to trade for Donovan Mitchell in the summer of 2022 before he was shipped to the Cavaliers.
Williamson certainly sounded unhappy or at least confused over his status with the Pelicans after they dropped their fifth straight game Sunday against the Mavericks.
“Last year, we had a team meeting and we brought up some things I can do better, especially with buying into the program,” Williamson said. “Right now, it’s tough. I’m taking a little bit of a backseat right now. I’m trusting the process. I’m trying my best to buy in right now.”
Towns, who signed a four-year supermax extension in 2022 worth $224 million beginning next season, and the Timbewolves took a six-game winning streak and a 7-2 record into Tuesday’s game at Golden State.
Embiid, the reigning league MVP, also has been linked often to the Knicks because team president Leon Rose was his former CAA agent.
But the Sixers were off to an NBA-best 8-1 start — after former league MVP James Harden forced a trade — entering Tuesday’s home game against the Pacers.
Harden was dealt last month to the Clippers, who started the season by losing six of their first nine games.
He similarly demanded a trade from the Nets and landed in Philadelphia before the 2022 deadline.
“I guess the disgruntled part, these disgruntled superstars would argue that, well, the team that I’m currently on isn’t doing enough to try to win and get me to a championship. So I need to go to Place B to get that championship,” Perry said. “But there’s an old saying, ‘The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.’ We like to think that it is just change for the sake of change.
“But I don’t have the arrogance necessarily to believe that a guy’s gonna come to our place and he’s gonna be happy just because. I like when players and people in general try to figure out the situation they’re gonna be in. And when you look at these disgruntled stars, how many of them have left a situation where everything was catered around them and gone to the new situation, and it’s the exact same thing for them?”
Perry cited Dwight Howard as another example from his days working in the Magic’s front office.
Howard was traded to the Lakers in 2012 after playing eight seasons in Orlando, and he changed teams seven more times in his career.
“Ever since he’s been gone from there, what’s his career looked like?” Perry said. “He’s been searching for what he had in Orlando the entire time.”
Perry added Wednesday in an ESPN appearance that he believes the Knicks are “just one player away, and it doesn’t have to be a superstar player, either.”
“A player who can create some offense off the dribble, to take some of the pressure off of Jalen Brunson from having to do that, or Julius Randle having to do it, or RJ Barrett,” Perry said. “I think the Knicks have something in terms of depth, so you add one player to that mix, and you don’t have to go the typical three-superstar [route] to get it done.”
