Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks are both struggling since the trade to the Knicks

The New York Knicks were involved in maybe the biggest deal of the 2024 NBA trade deadline when they traded with the Detroit Pistons. New York traded Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono, two future second-round picks, and cash considerations in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. The 34-year-old Bogdanovic and 32-year-old Burks were going to help strengthen the Knicks’ roster and provide important minutes to an injury-riddled team.

Neither of the two have played great since arriving in New York.

Bojan Bogdanovic

Bogdanovic is averaging 14.7 points on 41.7 percent field goal shooting and 36.7 percent from three in 25.4 minutes per game. He’s scored 15 or more in five of his nine games with the Knicks. His field goal percentage has dropped from 46.8 percent, and his three-point percentage has dipped from 41.5 percent since being traded. In Detroit, Bogdanovic was 86/207 beyond the arc in 28 games this season. Since joining the Knicks, he’s only hit 22 of his 60 attempts from deep. Another glaring number is that he is a -1.6 in the offensive box plus-minus category. The often reliable offensive player was a +0.3 in the offensive box plus-minus before being traded.

The Croatian can fill it up on nights he’s feeling it. He just needs to be a little more consistent going forward. He’s the type of player who can be huge in a playoff series as a scorer, and the Knicks will need him to improve that percentage from three.

Alec Burks

Alec Burks’s second go-around in New York hasn’t been too kind to him. The Knicks guard is only shooting 32.3 percent on field goal attempts and a disappointing 29.8 percent from three in 16.6 minutes per game. Burks’s three-point shooting drop has been drastic since being traded. In 43 games with the Pistons this season, the 32-year-old hit 99 of 247 attempts, connecting at a 40.1 percent clip. Upon joining the Knicks, he’s only hit 14 of 47 attempts and is 5/25 in his last six games.

Burks was a player many imagined would be a sneaky good addition at the deadline. Some of us even wrote about it before the trade happened. He was having a nice season on a bad Pistons team, averaging 12.6 points and shooting well from deep. This was the type of scorer the Knicks needed, and Burks also had a previous relationship with head coach Tom Thibodeau. He would also have a good opportunity to get minutes with the Knicks missing key players. Early returns have not been prosperous, and Burks is averaging 8.7 points in his ten games since returning to New York.

He is an abysmal -5.4 in offensive and -4.7 in defensive box plus-minus, bringing his total to -10.1. Those are horrifically bad numbers, but Burks is a better player than this. In his previous stop with the Knicks, he played 49 games in 2020–21 and 81 games in 2021–22. He was solid over those two seasons, and that’s all the Knicks need him to be. Similar to Bogdanovic, the three-point shooting has to improve. New York was led to believe they were getting two 40 percent three-point shooters, and both have negatively gone the other way.

Bogdanovic and Burks need to find a rhythm, and both are better players than they’ve shown. There are 20 games left in the regular season, and the Knicks should have some key players returning to the court this month.

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