Knicks Trade Rumors: NY 'Looking to Move' 1st-Round Picks in 2024 NBA Draft

The New York Knicks are "looking to move" the No. 24 and No. 25 picks of the upcoming NBA draft, Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer said Tuesday on the Bad Weather Fans Podcast.

"Definitely word around the league that they're looking to move those," Fischer said.

But Fischer said he believes it will be more difficult than in years past for the Knicks to find a partner willing to trade down in the draft.

"There's no Victor Wembanyama in this class. There's no Zion Williamson in this class. There's no Cooper Flagg, and Cam Boozer, and upcoming things," Fischer. "There's just a lot of expectation, and excitement, about at least the next two year draft classes, let alone what could be a 2028 pick."

The Knicks hold their own No. 25 pick, as well as the No. 24 selection thanks to the Kristaps Porziņģis trade with the Dallas Mavericks. The team will also select again with No. 38 in the second round.

Fischer said he believes the most likely trade scenario would be a draft-night deal, if another team's desired pick falls surprisingly low in the first round.

His comments echo a Friday mock draft from ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, in which the analysts wrote that "the Knicks are understandably looking into trade scenarios involving their two picks in the 20s as they work to prolong their current competitive window."

The Athletic's Sam Vecenie similarly reported in May that the Knicks are "seen league-wide as a potential trade partner, as coach Tom Thibodeau is not likely to want multiple first-round rookies on his team."

"Additionally, the Knicks have generally tried to add more assets for the future to create more potential avenues to complete trades involving future draft picks," Vecenie wrote.

The shorthanded Knicks came within one win of the Eastern Conference Finals despite missing key players including Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanović.

That performance, during which other key players like Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart were also limited by injury, confirmed that the Knicks are officially in win-now mode with their current core.

That means the Knicks would be better off trading at least one of these draft picks in order to bolster the core for the next run in 2025.

The Knicks could use one of the picks as part of a trade, such as for the Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant. One NBA executive called Durant a "prime candidate" to join the Knicks, per Heavy's Sean Deveney.

But given the relative weakness of the 2024 draft class, the Knicks may have to add additional future assets in order to put together a winning trade proposal for a veteran like Durant.