New York Knicks last 5 NBA Drafts show team can’t pick a winner

new york knicks

The New York Knicks are expected to make a big splash in the offseason. The franchise desperately needs to improve quickly having not made the playoffs in the last six years.

Reports of LeBron James wanting out of Los Angeles has put the Knicks in the conversation for a trade. There are also rumours that Kyrie Irving and/or Kevin Durant will land at Madison Square Garden. NBA fans can visit Basketball-betting.pro to wager on this year’s NBA Playoffs and predict the team they believe will win the Finals.

The rumours of star names doesn’t stop there for the Knicks. The team has been linked with New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis, too.

New York may not land any of those desired names through trades or free agency. They may need to focus on the NBA Draft in June and select better players than they have in recent years. The NBA Draft has been a downfall for the Knicks, and their last five performances show just how far off the mark they have been.

2013 – Tim Hardaway

Tim Hardaway was an impressive college guard at the University of Michigan. Although he had the Hardaway name, he was a much better scorer than his father, Tim Hardaway Sr. After finishing as a First Team All-Big 10 player in 2013, Hardaway was taken with the No. 24 pick.

It wasn’t a bad move by the Knicks and Hardaway showed promise before being traded to Atlanta in 2015. The guard did rejoin the Knicks as a more confident player and in 2018-19 averaged a career high 19.1 points per game before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

2014 – Cleanthony Early and Thanasis Antekounmpo

In 2014, the Knicks took Cleanthony Early 34th along Giannis Antekounmpo’s older brother Thanasis as the 51st pick. Anthony played just 56 games for New York and was last seen playing in Japan.

Antekounmpo is back in Greece playing for Panathinaikos where he is a big star winning trophies.Antekounmpo appeared in just two games for the Knicks.

2015 – Kristaps Porzingis

Kristaps Porzingis was the 4th overall pick in 2015 and had the potential to be a big-time Knicks player. The Knicks had a star on their hands, but a torn ACL in 2018 curtailed his progress.

In January of this year, Porzingis was traded to the Mavericks along with Hardaway. It is claimed an alleged rape charge that was made public in March spurred the trade. However, NBA insiders claim the move was made to make room for Durant this summer.

2017 – Frank Ntikikina, Damyean Dotson, Ognjen Jaramaz

The Knicks hold the rights to Ognjen Jaramaz, although he continues to play in Europe. Frank Ntikikinaand Damyean Dotson have played for the Knicks racking up a combined 230-plus games. Both are serviceable back-up guards.

2018 – Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson

Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson are two young players with promise, but it seems the Knicks have had too many of those over the years. What they need is some top of the line players in their primes.

Knox played 75 times in his rookie season averaging 12.8 points per game. He could go on to be a solid NBA player. Robinson played in 66 games averaging 7.3 points a game. Perhaps he too can be a part of an improved Knicks franchise going forward.