The first-round pick that the Eagles got was acquired by New York in the 2021 draft when they selected center Kai Jones of the University of Texas with the 19th overall pick and then traded to Charlotte. That draft right has protection clauses: Charlotte’s top 18 picks in 2022, top 16 picks in 2023, top 14 picks in 2024 and 2025, and if it’s deferred until 2026, it will be the current year and the next year. A total of 2 second-round picks.
Last season, New York scored the fourth best result in the Eastern Division under the condition that it was not optimistic. The opponent in the first round of the playoffs was none other than the Eagles, who ranked fifth in the Eastern Division! After the Eagles defeated New York 4-1, they eliminated Philadelphia in Game 7 (so the Eagles were to some extent the initiator of Simmons’ break with the team), and the surprising trip to the playoffs did not stop until they lost to the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Championship. The young New York and the Eagles naturally wanted to improve in the new season. I didn’t expect that after half the season, the two teams still followed the same steps as last season, but the ranking became the 11th and 12th in the Eastern Division, and they became brothers in distress.
Both teams therefore want to make some adjustments in the lineup in order to rebound in the second half of the season. Let’s talk about the protagonist of this transaction first: Reddish, after being selected by the Hawks with the 10th overall pick in 2019, he struggled for two years before making his due this year. Because Reddish was famous all over the world in high school, and has always been a popular candidate for the draft since joining Duke University, I remember that a draft prediction website once gave the top 3 picks of the No. 1 pick, No. 2 pick and No. 3 pick in 2019 to “Du The Three Musketeers” (Barrett was No. 1 at the time, and Ja Morant had yet to emerge). It was only as the season progressed that Reddish’s worth slowly dropped, and finally fell to the edge of the lottery before being picked up by the Eagles. The root cause turned out to be a bad outside shot rate.
Data speaks for itself. Reddish’s total shooting percentages were 35.6%, 38.4%, and 36.5% from Duke University in 2018-19 and the first two seasons of entering the NBA (2019-20, 2020-21). The three-point shooting percentages are 33.3%, 33.2%, and 26.2%, respectively. Even with top-level athletic and defensive abilities, the appalling outside shooting rate can only be used as a defensive coolie in the end. To give an analogy, with the same body and conditions, if there is an outside line, there is a chance to become a star player like Jaylen Brown. What if there is no outside line? It could be the Pistons’ Josh Jackson (4th overall in 2017) or the Lakers’ Stanley Johnson, still fighting for the next contract.
Reddish finally made his mark in the new season, shooting 40.2%, 37.9% and 90.0% respectively so far. In addition, he was originally a defensive lock, so he became a hot trade candidate. Why was it sold after being beaten? Because the Eagles’ flanks are overcrowded, and the Eagles signed a 4-year 65 million extension with Huerter last year, a 5-year 125 million extension with power forward John Collins, plus several contracts with an annual salary of 20 million (Young, Gallinari, Capela and Bogdanovic), the Eagles won’t have the budget to stay with Reddish, who will be negotiating a new contract in the summer of 2023, and it makes perfect sense to get out of the rallies. But this also shows the reality of the NBA: It’s not that you don’t sell, it’s just waiting to sell when you play well.
On a side note, the bad news for Lakers fans is that it was said that the Lakers originally intended to trade two second-round picks for Reddish, but the Hawks turned it down. If Reddish can join the Lakers, he and James will be a perfect forward combination. It’s a pity that the Eagles will not sell their first-round picks, and the Lakers only found their pockets empty when they were shopping for their anniversary, because the Lakers will have their first-round picks in the next few years. In the hands of the Pelicans, who benefited from the AD trade case, the fastest draft picks that can be traded will not be until 2027. It’s really a shame that the draft picks are used up when they are available!
As for Knox, everyone may have forgotten that he is the ZTE Hope selected by New York with the 9th pick in 2018 (hindsight: two Bridges, Thunder’s SGA, and Denver’s Porter were selected later in New York), As a result, Knox’s playing time has dropped from 29 minutes in the rookie season to 18 and 11 season by season, and this season is less than 9 minutes, and New York has also changed from hope, disappointment to despair for him. In fact, New York’s draft vision in recent years can be said to be a black history. From Ntilikina in 2017, Knox in 2018, Robinson, Barrett in 2019, and Toppin in 2020, it seems that none of them can become the real pillars of the team. Now that Knox has been traded to the Eagles, he can only ask for his own blessings.
Reddish is expected to serve as a backup swingman when he arrives in New York, because the Nicks start with Barrett and French shooter Fournier. But Reddish won’t be short on minutes, especially with New York playing small ball (with Randle at center). It is also not ruled out that New York will make another move before the trade deadline, and it will be used for Fournier, who is a little uncomfortable after New York, to exchange a problem that has been difficult to solve for many years: point guard, maybe. The “Duke Three Musketeers” entered the NBA together in 2019, and the development has not been smooth. Zion suffered from injuries, and Barrett and Reddish performed well and badly. I hope that in the critical period when they are about to enter the next contract, the three of them will be able to make a difference!