The New York Knicks made no moves prior to the NBA trade deadline on Thursday, and part of the reason for that was Phil Jackson’s refusal to trade a future first-round pick.
ESPN’s Ian Begley reports that Jackson had a “firm rule” at the deadline that he was not going to trade New York’s 2018 first-round pick. It’s unclear how many teams coveted the pick as part of potential deals, but a source told Begley that Jackson stood firm that the Knicks “weren’t dealing it.”
The Knicks are without a first-round pick this year, as they shipped it to Toronto in 2013 as part of a disastrous trade for Andrea Bargnani. They had already swapped that first-rounder with the Denver Nuggets’ first-rounder prior to that when they acquired Carmelo Anthony.
Knicks fans can look at Jackson’s refusal to trade the team’s 2018 first-rounder one of two ways. They can either be frustrated that he may have cost their 24-33 team any shot it had of making the playoffs this year, or they can appreciate that he did not want to make the same mistakes those before him made and instead showed commitment to protecting the long-term future of the franchise.
Speculation has recently grown that Jackson could eventually leave the Knicks to join another familiar franchise. It’s possible that his commitment to keeping a draft pick he can’t use for another two years indicates that will not be the case.
