Why the NBA Cup champion Knicks should be just fine with the Bucks swatting away Giannis trade calls

Jalen Brunson was so excited for his teammates that he couldn't bother waiting for a question on the stage after his New York Knicks won the NBA Cup on Tuesday. "OG Anunoby, Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson," Brunson listed, ignoring Taylor Rooks' first question after winning his MVP trophy. "They played their ass off tonight. Without them, we don't win this. They played their ass off tonight."

It was a special moment for a team that's increasingly starting to feel special. Brunson has spent his entire Knicks tenure as the offensive engine, but at their worst, those Knicks too often defaulted to watching him dribble and hoping for hero ball. This year's team has found balance. 

New York is averaging 296.1 passes per game this season, their highest figure of the Brunson era by far and around 15 above where they were a season ago. Everyone here is eating. Brunson may be averaging a career-high 28.8 points per game, but six Knicks average in double figures. Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart are all flirting with career-best efficiency. Karl-Anthony Towns has traded a couple of shots for some the best defense of his career. The bench is more involved than Tom Thibodeau ever allowed it to be. There's a reason Brunson called out Kolek, who played less than 300 minutes last season. He played a career-high 20 minutes and 27 seconds, and the Knicks won those minutes by 14 points. He took an opportunity the old Knicks never would have given him and made the most of it.

The team results speak for themselves. They have the best net rating in the Eastern Conference by a mile and are currently on a 59-win pace even despite injuries and adjustments to Mike Brown's new scheme. All of this together suggests, at the very least, meaningful growth from the clunky team that was still fumbling for lineup ideas in the Eastern Conference finals last spring. They're not perfect. But they've found the best version of their team, the one that maximizes the cohesion among all the considerable talent they've assembled. That's not something to be trifled with lightly.

And it's something that may never have happened had Giannis Antetokounmpo been a bit more assertive in his long-term desires. We know through reporting that Giannis indicated to the Bucks that he was open to a trade over the summer. We know the Knicks and Bucks held at least preliminary discussions, and that an offer was presented. We don't know who exactly was in it, but we can surmise purely through salary-matching rules that it would have included at least two of Bridges, Anunoby and Towns along with perhaps more depth.

But Antetokounmpo didn't force the issue. He's reportedly uncomfortable with the idea of a firm trade request, and the Bucks are taking advantage of that to delay the inevitable. So a trade that probably should have come last summer still hasn't happened. It may not happen all season. And given where we sit today, that's probably in New York's best interest.

The Bucks are seemingly resisting Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talks, so is there a win-now move to make?

Sam Quinn

That's not to say that the Knicks shouldn't trade for Giannis if given the chance. It's just that doing so would create questions they may not have answers for. How would they replace the depth they lost in the trade? How would the incumbent players -- acquired to play on a specific sort of team -- adjust to playing in a very different sort of system with very different needs? How many eggs do the Knicks want to put in one basket when, right now, they're winning by spreading the wealth?

Those aren't the sort of questions teams like to answer on the fly. Think of the Lakers after acquiring Luka Dončić last February. They were of course right to go through with the trade, but Rob Pelinka would later describe the fallout as "trying to build an airplane in the sky." They lost in the first round in five games because they had little ability to put a proper roster around him with less than a week to go until the deadline. This year's Laker team is meaningfully better.

So Milwaukee's present hesitance likely suits the Knicks just fine. It gives them plenty of time to answer any questions they already have before considering the ones that would arise after a trade. The Knicks are Eastern Conference favorites here and now (+240 at Caesars). They'd be underdogs against whoever comes out of the West, but they'd probably like to know for certain where they stand against the Thunder or whoever beats them before they consider blowing up one of the best rosters in team history. The longer this drags out, the more they'll know about what they have.

And, frankly, the less they'll probably have to pay for what comes next. If Antetokounmpo makes it to the offseason in Milwaukee, the ball is almost entirely in his court. With only a single year remaining on his contract at that point, he'll have the power to scare off any undesirable suitors. If the Knicks are indeed what he wants, and he's what they want, he can simply tell other interested parties that he will not sign an extension and that will be that. With so many imposing teams looming with 2027 cap space -- most notably the Lakers -- the threat of him walking away from whatever team tries to rent him is very real.

These things can change at the drop of a hat. When the Bucks last took the floor, they lost by 45 to the Nets. They might reach their breaking point soon, or Antetokounmpo could. But for now, with Houston and San Antonio reportedly sitting out talks and no direct impetus from Giannis, it is growing increasingly likely that his future is settled over the summer rather than before the deadline.

And after lifting their first trophy in over 50 years, well, that's probably in New York's best interest. This team is steadily proving that it deserves a chance to lift the more famous trophy that comes at the end of June. When that question is answered, they'll know how seriously they should consider a Giannis pursuit. Until then, the NBA Cup was a statement by both Brunson and his teammates. The whole here is more important than the sum of their parts, and for now, well, there may not be a part in all of basketball they're eager to break up this whole to acquire.