Leon Rose said at the start of the season no one outside of Brunson is untoucable. The Celtics made a very similar move at the start of last season, when they traded Marcus Smart(the heart of their team) for KP at a discounted price.

The Knicks would be doing a very similar thing here. Lonzo is obviously a huge injury risk and is having a good but still relatively down year(shooting 33% from three only). Ayo is also having a pretty down year compared to what he has done in the past. Not that these guys have low value(Josh Hart is a very good player), but it should mean that they are both moveable.

Now, the Knicks have struggled offensively since January(they are about 10th in offensive rating over the last 2 months). A lot of this can be attributed to Josh Hart shooting 23% from three and Thibs being extremely stubborn about playing the starting 5 as the main lineup together by far. The Knicks have seen immense benefits by putting McBride in the starting lineup instead of both Hart and Brides, likely because of the way McBride spaces the floor above the arc but still provides good defense.

This trade works really well for the Knicks in two different scenarios.

Sitation 1: Knicks decide to start Mitchell Robinson at the 5 next to Kat. Lonzo, Ayo, and McBride become one of the best bench units in the nba, whether its alongside Precious, Hukporti, or someone we don't know yet.

Situation 2: Mitch is off the team or comes off the bench, and either Lonzo or Ayo(or McBride) slides into the starting lineup. This lineup goes full 5 out and should also be awesome.

Bulls do this for 2 reasons.

A) Josh Hart plus draft capital, even if its just seconds, is really good value. Hart has been a borderline top 40-50 player this year, avg 14-10-5 with good defense. The bulls prob get the better value here, I just think that theres a world that Hart doesn't really fit the team, at least not as a starter, and the Knicks could really benefit from more/better 3 point shooting(ranking last in 3 point attempt rate since January in the league).

B) Josh Hart should be able to gain even more value as a Bull. He would be starting and be a top 3 player on the bulls pretty easily. Theres a world where his numbers jump beyond 14-10-5 to something like 19-10-7, and he would get loads of offers from other contenders or wanna be contenders.

I don't know if the Knicks should do this, but right now it looks like the Knicks, especially this starting 5, is less than the sum of its parts, and I think at least part of the reason is Josh Harts lack of spacing