Knicks Could Make Stunning Push for Cavaliers All-Star

By Alex Kirschenbaum

Contributing Sports Writer

ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

The New York Knicks enjoyed a relatively quiet 2025 offseason — outside of one major personnel change beyond their roster.

New York swapped out 2021 Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau for 2023 Coach of the Year Mike Brown, in an effort to refresh their offensive attack around two-time All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson.

The Knicks signed two new veteran free agents, power forward Guerschon Yabusele and combo guard Jordan Clarkson, to add some seasoning to their bench. Clarkson has looked great in his new digs. Yabusele, not so much.

All told, New York looks every bit the Eastern Conference champion contender it was expected to be heading into the 2025-26 season. Still, it appears the 20-8 club could be amenable to making some changes around All-Stars Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.

...

Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com writes that the Knicks number among the top clubs in the hunt for some center help, along with (quite obviously) the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers, plus the Toronto Raptors.

Golden State has been scrambling to figure out its interior depth situation this season, after free agent signing Al Horford began aging like milk, 6-foot-6 power forward Draymond Green started to look a bit limited against legitimate fives, and second-year center Quinten Post has yet to develop defensively.

More news: Knicks Predicted to Cut Ties with Top Free Agent, Trade for Pelicans Veteran

When Indiana lost starting center Myles Turner to a four-year, $108.9 million free agent deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pacers opted to re-sign reserve Isaiah Hartenstein and trade for floor spacing big Jay Huff, while retaining defense-first reserve Tony Bradley. The Pacers recently brought back James Wiseman on a 10-day hardship exception deal. None of these players, long-term, projects to be a Turner-level two-way starter.

Behind Jakob Poeltl, the Raptors have fairly limited reliable center depth.

Afseth writes that the Cleveland Cavaliers, reeling with a mediocre 15-14 record thus far, could be open to a major shakeup. Afseth suggests that the team may look to fire reigning Coach of the Year Atkinson or trade All-Stars Darius Garland or Jarrett Allen.

“Kenny does a great job of building up a young team into a winning program. Does it stop there, though? He hasn’t shown he can take a contender over the top,” a source told Afseth.

Speaking of center help, Allen could be an attractive trade prospect for any of the listed teams — with one major caveat.

While the Cavaliers might be open to parting ways with Allen if the price is right, an overwhelming offer may be needed for Cleveland to send him to an East rival.

“[Allen] has a lot of fans around the NBA, but unless the trade package was just irresistible, it’s hard to see the Cavs being willing to help another team in the East,” a source relayed to Afseth. “Keep that in mind.”

This season, the 6-foot-9 Texas product has been averaging a fairly modest 13.9 points on 59 percent field goal shooting and 77.9 percent free throw shooting, plus 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks in just 25.9 minutes per.

The 27-year-old Allen is currently earning a fairly reasonable $20 million this season, but will see that number leap to $28 million in 2026-27, the first year of a three-season, $90.7 million contract extension he inked with Cleveland during the 2024 offseason.

More news: Knicks Predicted to Make Bold Trade for Former Draft Bust

For all the latest NBA news and rumors, head over to Newsweek Sports.

Request Reprint & LicensingSubmit CorrectionView Editorial & AI Guidelines