Facing a worsening injury crisis with a roster teetering on contention, the Knicks added two offensive-minded veterans to bolster their depth while checking most boxes before the second stanza of their playoff push.
Team president Leon Rose acquired Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic from the Pistons on Thursday, swapping out Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and two second-round picks.
It was a necessary move for a few reasons, starting with the avalanche of injuries facing the roster.
The latest was news Thursday of OG Anunoby undergoing surgery on his elbow, a procedure the team is labeling “minor” with the hope he’ll be 100 percent for the playoffs.
Add in Julius Randle’s dislocated shoulder and Jalen Brunson’s sprained ankle, and the Knicks require bodies.
They got two of them from the Pistons, both with scoring prowess.
Burks is averaging 12.6 points this season on 39.4 percent shooting, adept at creating for himself as demonstrated during his previous stint with the Knicks.
Bogdanovic is averaging 20.2 points on 47 percent shooting.
“Those guys have added a lot to our team,” Tom Thibodeau said before Thursday’s game against the Mavericks. “Then if you look at how all it fits together, we added a lot of shooting, which is much needed.”
Of the four departing players, only Grimes, who was frustrated and eager for a different opportunity, was getting minutes under Thibodeau.
Fournier had been glued to the bench since last season. Arcidiacono and Flynn were mostly part of the garbage-time crew.
Burks, who recently played for the Knicks and remains a favorite of Thibodeau, is a combo guard and can fill in backup point guard duties, essentially replacing Immanuel Quickley.
Bogdanovic is a 6-foot-7 forward who was an important part of a winning run in Utah before being traded to the miserable Pistons.
A longtime coach told The Post on Thursday that Bogdanovic remains a very strong scorer — which the Knicks need — but can’t defend at this point in his career.
He can help fill in for Anunoby and Randle, who both are out indefinitely with optimism they’ll be ready by the end of the season.
“[Bogdanovic’s] ability to play power forward, it gives us a stretch-4 who can really shoot,” Thibodeau said. “Alec, his ability to handle the ball, play the point, play off the ball, play with the starters, play with the bench, sort of a Swiss Army knife. He does a little bit of everything. But the shooting piece was so important. I just think the more we can open up the floor, particularly as you go forward, that’s a key ingredient. Now, teams have to make a decision how much you’re going to load up [on Brunson].”
Still, the defensive concerns will be exacerbated without Anunoby, a veteran coach told The Post. Trading Grimes will also hurt that end of the court.
They’re going to have to outscore teams, a strategy that didn’t work well during a disappointing 2021-22 season.
Thibodeau, meanwhile, pumped up the upgrades in shooting.
“We’re looking forward to Alec and Bojan coming in. Alec, we’re familiar with because he’s been here,” Thibodeau said. “We know what a great fit he is for us. Bojan, we’ve gone against him for quite a bit. It gives us added depth. The shooting piece is really important for us. They complement our players extremely well. We’re looking forward to them joining our team.”
Bogdanovic, originally acquired by the New Jersey Nets in the 2011 draft, will also ease the burden on Josh Hart and Precious Achiuwa, who have been logging heavy time lately.
The Croatian is 34 with over a decade of NBA experience — leading to questions about his physical ability to carry a load — but also represents a better scorer than Hart, especially as an outside shooter, and should even start given all the injuries.
Basically, the Knicks needed depth and offense.
The Pistons, off to one of the worst starts in NBA history with no need for veterans, were their facilitators.
As The Post reported, the Knicks took a stance at the deadline of holding tightly to their future first-round picks because they still want to be in the market for a superstar trade, if and when that ever materializes.
They’ll have between one and four first-rounders in the 2024 draft, depending on how the protections play out.
They avoided sending out any first-rounders in the Pistons swap, whereas a deal for Toronto’s Bruce Brown — a player the Knicks discussed — would’ve likely cost them one. Brown remained with the Raptors past the deadline.
The Knicks were long considering a reunion with Burks, who was a part of their 2021 playoff run to the fourth seed. The Sixers and Timberwolves were discussing packages for Burks before those teams traded for Buddy Hield and Monte Morris, respectively.
The Pistons were more reluctant to part with Bogdanovic, who, unlike Burks, is under contract next season.
The two sides picked up talks Thursday and Detroit GM Troy Weaver, amid a disastrous run as a top executive, relented while picking up a promising 3-and-D rebuilding piece in Grimes.
Fournier was on the trading block since the summer but the Knicks held off until Thursday because his expiring $19 million contract was an asset.
He wasn’t shy about wanting either a consistent opportunity in the rotation (that wasn’t going to happen) or a relocation. He now becomes a buyout candidate in Detroit.
Grimes, as The Post reported, was frustrated with his role and diminishing opportunities in the context of his growth last season.
A source close to the guard said of the move to the Pistons, “It will give him a path to success and a clean slate.”
“He’s a really good player, a good kid. He’s got a bright future,” Thibodeau said of Grimes, who was drafted by the Knicks in 2021. “But in order to get what we wanted to get, we knew we had to give up something good. Which we did. I loved him as a guy, and as a player. And that’s part of the business.”
