There is a whole lot of spin going on around the idea of a trade of Kyle Lowry from the Raptors to the Knicks, but a couple of themes seem to be consistent:
1) The Raptors want a lot to give up Lowry. By a lot we mean Raymond Felton plus some combination of Iman Shumpert, Tim Hardaway Jr. and a first round pick (likely two of those last three). Metta World Peace could be in there, also.
2) The Knicks — and particularly owner James Dolan — are hesitant to give up that much.
So the deal appears stalled at least as of Friday morning. Here is what the Frank Isola reports at the New York Daily News.According to a source familiar with the talks, Dolan had second thoughts about trading for Lowry and was also — what else? — enraged that details of the proposed deal had been leaked to the media.
According to several reports, the Knicks were prepared to trade Raymond Felton and Metta World Peace plus Iman Shumpert or Tim Hardaway Jr. or a 2018 first-round pick. The Raptors preferred the first-round pick, but Dolan — who negotiated the Carmelo Anthony trade with Raptors GM Masai Ujiri when Ujiri was with the Denver Nuggets — got cold feet about trading a future asset. That could open the door for the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Lowry instead.
“Dolan didn’t want to get fleeced again by Masai,” was how one Knicks source put it. “They had a deal ready.”
Remember then Knicks GM Donnie Walsh was offering a lot less for ‘Melo figuring they would just sign him as a free agent in the summer if the Ujiri and the Nuggets didn’t want to make a deal. However Dolan was impatient, came in over the top and gave up all the supporting pieces the Knicks could use now to get ‘Melo. That deal got ripped publicly, particularly outside New York.All of that lines up fairly closely to what Adrian Wojnarowski reported at Yahoo Sports.
The Knicks have no appetite for including Shumpert or rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. in a package. Knicks owner Jim Dolan is sensitive to the public perception that Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri bamboozled New York in the Carmelo Anthony trade, and the chance of getting panned for giving up too much in a deal for Lowry has become a hurdle in these talks, league sources told Yahoo Sports…
Several teams are pursuing Lowry, but the Knicks’ most direct competition for him could come from the Brooklyn Nets, who are also exploring the possibility of a deal, league sources said. Brooklyn has resisted the inclusion of its 2020 first-round pick in a package, nor one of its top young players, including rookie Mason Plumlee, sources said.
The Raptors would like to get a deal done by Dec. 19 because any player they get before then can be flipped again at the trade deadline. Any deals after that date and they are stuck with him.
Toronto had shopped Lowry around before but stepped up efforts after it got Greiveis Vasquez as part of the Rudy Gay deal.
Lowry would be an upgrade over Felton, who is out for a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury and wasn’t playing up to his usual level before that anyway. Lowry isn’t a great shooter but makes smart decisions about when to shoot, plus he is a better defender.