The New York Knicks are heading into a critical season, and it might be one that finally sees them going all the way. The team has a new head coach in Mike Brown, who the Knicks just signed, and the good news for him is that he’s walking into a good situation in that the Knicks are already poised to be a championship team. They came so close last season, so Brown really just has to perfect what’s already great in New York.
The Knicks, as with every NBA team, is looking at their roster and making some big decisions going into the 2025-26. They already have a solid core, headed up by the great Jalen Brunson, but they could certainly use some more star power. At the end of the postseason, the Knicks fell to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals in what was a heartbreaking series, so Brown is trying to position the team to get over that final hump, and new talent can help.
Now, one NBA expert and analyst is predicting that the New York Knicks will bring on a former rival to complete the team.
Mike Brown May Bring on Former Knicks Rival
While most of the best free agents in the NBA have been lapped up by now, there are still some veterans in the NBA who could be bought out by their teams, making way for their availability. In a piece published Tuesday, July 8, by The Daily Knicks, Atticus O’Brien-Pappalardo says that the Knicks have the room to add a player who is a veteran “and will undoubtedly be closely monitoring any buyout candidates.”
He says a “dream target” would be former Knicks rival Marcus Smart. He admits that while there’s been no real talk about Smart being bought out by the Washington Wizards, “it is not hard to see why it could potentially get there. The Wizards are in the midst of a rebuild and will likely want to prioritize playing the young talent on their roster this season.”
He also makes the point that the Wizards have plenty of veteran guards on their roster, including Smart, Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum, and all of them would love to win a championship before they retire. The Knicks would be a promising team to do so. Smart, also, is on the last year of his contract and is owed $21 million for the season.
Why Wizards Player Would Be a Perfect Fit
So, what would make him such a great fit? “The Knicks know as well as any team in the league what kind of passion and fire Smart brings to the court whenever he is on it,” O’Brien-Pappalardo notes, adding that he was with the Boston Celtics for nine years and won the Defensive Player of the Year award with them in the 2021-22 season.
He’s also a “willing shooter” and ” the ability to get hot, which he certainly did during the final 15 games of the season last year, where he knocked down 39.2 percent of his threes.”
There’s no denying that Smart could be a great addition to the Knicks. Time will tell if it happens.
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