The trade deadline is inching closer and closer and while all eyes are on Giannis, I decided to revisit a previous trade of mine. First off, Giannis on the Knicks would be great, but several team can beat any Knicks package right now and even though they could offer more in the offseason, other teams can also offer more. Unless Giannis fully goes all in on asking for the Knicks, which he has seemed reluctant to do, I have a hard time seeing it happening unless the Knicks decimate their roster in order to get assets to send to the Bucks. I honestly this it would be 2 of KAT, OG and Bridges plus Deuce in order to make it happen. Having Giannis would be amazing, but depth has already been an issue, I'm not sure it's a good idea to get even more top-heavy.

Spurs: Starting with the Spurs, they've seemed open to trading Sochan (although there have been mixed messages) and he hasn't seen the floor much this year. The Knicks have already reached out with Yabu as the piece going to the Spurs, but despite the French connection with Wembanyama, they don't want to trade for him. Thus, we end up with Jordan Clarkson heading to the Spurs instead. He fills a need as a good 3 point shooter and is on an expiring contract so if it doesn't work out, there's no long term cost. They also reduce their salary and get about $10 million of space until the tax and could make even more if they trade Olynyk. Finally, they get the protected FRP from Washington that will become a second rounder in 26 and 27. Those are very high value seconds as they'll be in the early 30s, just barely outside the first round.

Hawks: The Hawks were recently mentioned as a salary dump candidate and they get involved here for just that. I doubt that Yabu would see a ton of time with them but I'd bet they also give him a chance to rehab his trade value. Plus, it seems like the Hawks still want to make another move and since some of the candidates (like Anthony Davis) who have been suggested for them are currently injured, this would give them a nice smaller salary to add onto a bigger trade in the offseason that wouldn't sacrifice one of their more valued and used players. While their salary does increase of course, they're still outside the tax and they get two second round picks for their troubles.

Knicks: When Yabu and Clarkson were signed in the offseason, many (if not all) thought the Knicks had a done a great job and had nailed their free agent signings with the small amount of room they had. Unfortunately, both Yabu and Clarkson have been disappointments, with Yabu being the biggest. The Knicks have needs at 3 places: most notably on the wing, but also a more experience backup PG and some big man depth because of Mitch's load management and KAT's foul trouble issues. Sochan would be able to be a larger wing that can backup OG and has experience as a small ball center so he could also double as big man depth. While it wasn't a huge success, he does also have some experience as a distributor when the Spurs tried him as a point forward. But he's mainly here for his defense and while his shot has never come around, I'm hoping the Knicks shooting coach can work some of the magic they did for Hart and his 3 point shooting and Mitch's free throw shooting (it's still bad but much less worse). The Knicks would be at 13 players and would need at least one more player to meet roster minimums and I'm guessing would utilize the buyout market. Perhaps they take a chance on Chris Paul as I don't see him being on the Clippers past the deadline and I also don't see anyone trading for him (why trade for him when he's likely going to be bought out). He's a strong personality but is a proven playoff PG and looked good for the Spurs last year. Then they'd probably convert one of their 2 way contracts to fill out the roster to the maximum 15 spots. They surrender much of their second round capital but I don't see them using all of those draft picks with such a full roster already and they don't give up any pick swaps which they could use for a larger offseason trade. They actually end up keeping Dadiet as well, he's looked better in Westchester this season and perhaps he takes a jump like Deuce did or at least improves his trade value for a trade in the offseason. I like the depth chart too as it adds size to their second unit while not sacrificing players who are contributing much.

PG: Brunson, Kolek

SG: Bridges, Deuce

SF: Hart, Shamet, Dadiet

PF: Anunoby, Sochan, Diawara

C: KAT, Mitch, Hukporti