Throughout his career, Damian Lillard has always made it clear that he wants to play with the Portland Trail Blazers until he retires. He doesn’t care for the concept of superteams and would much rather build a championship team with the franchise that drafted him. Lillard even signed a supermax contract with the team to demonstrate how serious he is about winning with the Blazers.

However, Lillard wasn’t always sure about his standing with the team. During a recent Vanity Fair interview, Lillard admitted that there was a time where he thought he would be traded to the New York Knicks. Rumors had been floating around and he wouldn’t have been surprised had something gone down. 

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“I thought I was headed there a few years ago; I was hearing trade rumors,” Lillard said. “The Garden is my favorite place to play.” Lillard on the Knicks would have been a sight to behold especially when paired with Carmelo Anthony. Of course, the two play together now but Anthony would have been closer to his prime at the time of this potential trade.

If you’re a Blazers fan, you have to be thankful that the trade never went through. Otherwise, the team would be a lot worse off.

Throughout the last few decades, the New York Knicks have proven themselves to be a less than stellar organization. They are constantly losing and their owner, James Dolan, consistently messes up in the most public ways possible. In fact, Dolan has ruptured the relationship between the franchise and some of its most storied players. He's even damaged the team's relationship with superfan Spike Lee who recently appeared on First Take to talk about the team's latest blunder.

Amid the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, Dolan refused to release a statement. Eventually, public pressure intensified and Dolan caved. Despite this, the statement was pretty weak and it was clear that Dolan just simply didn't care all that much. As Lee explained on ESPN, Dolan has made it extremely difficult to support the Knicks, especially since he has been with the team since their championship years in the 70s.

If you know anything about the Ball family, you know just how much attention they get just by breathing. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the family’s patriarch, LaVar, is always in the news talking about how great his kids are and how they will be taking over the NBA. Lonzo has had a topsy turvy career thus far meanwhile LiAngelo just signed a contract in the G-League. As for LaMelo, 2020 is his draft year and the consensus is that he is going to be a top 5 pick.

LaVar has been noting just how much he wants his son to play for the New York Knicks and now, that looks like a real option. According to the New York Post, the Knicks have placed LaMelo at the top of their draft board when it comes to point guards. They are a team that needs to improve at every position although having a 6’7″ PG on your team like LaMelo could make a huge difference especially when paired with RJ Barrett.

Whether or not LaMelo gets to play for the Knicks depends on where they end up in the draft order and if another team takes LaMelo first. However, just like in Lonzo’s case, with teams knowing LaVar and LaMelo’s intentions, it’s a safe bet that LaMelo could wind up in the Big Apple.

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Patrick Ewing is a name that basketball fans know very well. Ewing was a legend with the New York Knicks and was one of the greatest players of his generation. After playing for Georgetown during his college years, he joined the team as Head Coach and it is a position he still holds until this day. 

Unfortunately, Ewing has received some distressing news. In a statement posted to his Twitter account, Ewing was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. The Coronavirus has created a pandemic that many of us have never seen before and millions have become infected. While Ewing is currently in the hospital with the disease, it appears as though he is stable and is being properly isolated from other people.

LaMelo Ball had a very interesting year in Australia and now that he owns the team he played for, he is ready to move on and get drafted into the NBA this year. Many believe he could be the first overall pick while others are more conservative in predicting that he will at least be in the top five. There is a whole slew of bottom-feeding teams that will be eligible for Ball and it will be interesting to see where he ends up landing. 

As you can imagine, LaMelo’s father LaVar has his own plans for the future superstar and is letting it be known that he wants Melo to go to the New York Knicks. The Knicks might be a terrible team but they get all of the attention and as we know, LaVar loves himself some attention.

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LaVar had vouched for the Knicks a while back but he reiterated his position while on Complex’s “Load Management” podcast. The Knicks aren’t guaranteed to get a lottery pick but the odds of them getting one is still pretty high. If other teams see that LaMelo only has eyes for the Knicks, perhaps they will pass him up and New York can get lucky.

However, this all rides on whether or not the Knicks even want LaMelo and what comes with him. Needless to say, this situation is about to get interesting.

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LeBron James always makes waves on social media whenever he speaks so it shouldn't be surprising that he had NBA fans in a tizzy last night while watching "The Last Dance." Throughout the episodes, Michael Jordan has spoken at length about Madison Square Garden and how it was his favorite arena to play in. Just like his idol, LeBron is a huge fan of MSG and always speaks highly of the arena whenever he gets to play there. In the past, his love of MSG has led to speculation that he might play for the New York Knicks one day.

Last night, LeBron added nothing but fuel to that fire as he complimented MSG saying there is nothing like it. Well, as you can imagine, Twitter did its thing and Knicks fans began to speculate about a potential LeBron signing in 2022. Of course, the vast majority of the reactions were people making fun of Knicks fans for being a bit too eager.

Jeremy Lin was never a bonafide superstar in the NBA although he certainly made the most of his NBA career as he won a title with the Toronto Raptors last season. Not to mention, he is now playing in the CBA and is enjoying quite a bit of success. However, most people remember Lin for his first few games as a member of the New York Knicks which were dubbed as “Linsanity.”

Quite frankly, “Linsanity” was the best part of the Carmelo Anthony years which yes, is a slight to Melo. Regardless, Knicks fans remember Lin’s time as a Knick quite fondly, and recently, Lin was asked if he had any regrets in regards to his time in New York. As he explains, he wishes he had been more in the moment.

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“It was the most special, precious moment,” Lin said. “And in the end to the previous question about regrets. My biggest regret is that I didn’t soak in every second of that experience. That’s my biggest regret. My biggest regret is that I was too immature and young to really learn how to not take that for granted. I was so set on the next season and rehabbing from my injury and what I wanted to happen next that I couldn’t stay in the moment and just appreciate that, and appreciate New York for who New York was and what New York did for me, who all those fans were, and what that meant. It was so special.”

Lin might not be an NBA legend but what he was able to do during a one month span with the Knicks will never be forgotten.

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For decades now, the New York Knicks have been a bit of a laughing stock within the NBA. Their front office is constantly making bad decisions and as a result, the team hasn't had any success in both the regular season or playoffs. At this point, Knicks fans expect the team to make bad choices and they expect them to not end up with the players they truly want.

According to Ian Begley of SNY, the Knicks were trying to make a big move at the trade deadline and were interested in D'Angelo Russell of the Golden State Warriors. In fact, the Knicks offered the Warriors Bobby Portis, Allonzo Trier, and Frank Ntilikina. The Warriors ended up rejecting this trade and sent Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins, instead. 

Last season, Kevin Durant’s free agency decision was a hot topic in NBA circles. Some felt like he would stay with the Golden State Warriors while others were convinced that he would be going to the New York Knicks to play in the mecca of basketball. In the end, Durant decided to do neither of those two things and signed with the Brooklyn Nets. This decision hurt Knicks fans everywhere although considering how that team is run, Durant’s choice shouldn’t have been surprising.

According to Ian Begley of SNY, the Knicks are still under the assumption that they would have gotten Durant, had he not suffered an Achilles injury during the NBA Finals. Since Irving wanted to team up with KD, the theory is that Kyrie swayed Durant to go to Brooklyn as opposed to New York. Since Durant was injured, Kyrie had the leverage, thus solidifying their stay in Brooklyn.

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While the Knicks probably tell themselves this just to sleep at night, KD has been adamant about the fact that the Knicks were never a heavy consideration from him. Not to mention, the Knicks made it clear that after his Achilles injury, they weren’t interested in giving him a max deal.

Once again, the Knicks have shown why they haven’t won anything in close to 50 years. Wishful thinking can only get you so far.

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Jared Dudley is seen as one of those veteran players that you love to have in the locker room. He has played for numerous teams over the span of his career and he knows what he’s talking about in regards to basketball operations. Last season, Dudley was playing for the Brooklyn Nets and saw the team go on an interesting run that ended in the first round of the playoffs. Since leaving Brooklyn, the team has signed the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, Dudley was asked about the Nets’ signings and how both of those players were supposed to go to the New York Knicks. Dudley was quite harsh on the Knicks and essentially blamed their incompetent management for not being able to secure the two biggest free agents of last summer.

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“And let’s be honest, if the Knicks are run right, the Knicks get them easily. It’s not even close,” Dudley said. “If the Knicks are run halfway decent, they get KD and Kyrie. Like, literally had to do everything right and got them.”

Considering Dudley used to play for the Knicks’ biggest rival, his comments shouldn’t be all that surprising. After all, James Dolan continues to clowned for the decisions he has made over the years. Dudley’s words are just salt in the wound.

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