Report: Knicks could deal Shumpert because he’s only tradable asset

The New York Knicks are 3-5 and things are so bad the dancers have stopped dancing (by the owners orders).

This is not what Knicks management (or fans) expected, but with Tyson Chandler out a month (at least) it’s hard to see how things take a serious turn for the better in the short term. Without him their interior defense and rim protection is lacking.

Even with him, the problem is there is no easy way to fix this roster.

Which is why they may deal Iman Shumpert sooner rather than later, reports Marc Stein on ESPN (his new blog is a great read).

More and more folks around the league see some sort of Shumpert deal materializing sooner rather than later, given that he’s New York’s only real asset of value to make an in-season move and with the Knicks increasingly confident that they’ve got enough at the position to handle Shumpert’s exit now that J.R. Smith is back and with rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. looking good early.

Earlier this week there was some Kenneth Faried for Shumpert talk, but those rumors were all out of the New York side. The Nuggets want more in in a deal for Faried and the Knicks don’t have a first round pick until 2018 they can deal, so that fell through.

Stein mentions Sacramento as another possibility (not sure who heads back to New York in that deal), and there will be more. Shumpert has value as a young wing defender who can shoot the three (although he is off to a slow start this season, hitting 31.8 percent so far this season).

That said, I don’t know that there is one deal that can solve the Knicks issues. At least not to Dolan’s satisfaction. This is one oddly constructed roster.

Still it sounds like there is some smoke with a potential Shumpert trade with the fire not that far behind.