Mar 25, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and forward Mikal Bridges (25) celebrate during the closing seconds of the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Knicks Executive Highly Respected in One Area

Originally posted on New York Knicks on SI
By Henry Brown | Last updated Aug 13, 2025 7:00 AM ET

The New York Knicks looked nothing like this current rendition by this time last year.

A fringe-Eastern Conference player flipped into a contender in the span of a season, with the Knicks capitalizing off of several offseason moves and their changing landscape to enter the 2025-26 season as a favorite to make the NBA Finals, and that was before they continued tweaking this past summer.

Knicks executive Leon Rose pulled in several big-name buckets in Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges to bring some name recognition to Jalen Brunson's support system, and they continued padding along the edges of the roster to craft a team with long-term franchise players, a deep, playoff-ready bench and a new coach to lead the troops.

For his efforts, Rose was credited as one of the more dangerous front office figures for other executives to remain wary of dancing with, having built himself an impressive trading portfolio over his five years in charge of the Knicks.

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Yahoo sports' Ben Rohrbach compiled the "Danny Ainge System," a way of calculating the moves a basketball general manager makes and putting translating their success rates into baseball terms. Most profitable trades earn more fruitful base hits, and higher hit rates result in more impressive statistics.

Rose earned the ninth-highest statistical finish in the roundup, winning the majority of his transactions after a half-decade of regular activity. He's had a lot of money at his disposal, and done a respectable job at swapping assets for a win-now situation that looks to have given New York real promise.

"Leon Rose may never speak to the media, but he has quietly done a brilliant job in New York, turning the Knicks from relatively nothing into an Eastern Conference finalist," Rohrbach wrote.

"He did that with coach Tom Thibodeau at the helm, and now Rose is betting on Mike Brown. That is as hefty of a decision as any he has made, and that includes the acquisitions of Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges."

The Towns trade earned a triple, the best hit he accumulated in selling Julius Randle for the Minnesota Timberwolves' long-time All-Star, who proceeded to put up career-best shooting splits as soon as he joined his new team. The OG Anunoby trade involved less risk, but still earned the Knicks a good grade after the assets they gave to the Toronto Raptors have failed to come through.

Even with the occasional strikeouts, like the disastrous contract the Knicks gave Evan Fournier, the poorly-aged Obi Toppin trade or the unfortunate ending of Bojan Bogdanovic's New York stint, Rose still grades out as one of the more successful dealmakers in the league. Risk is required to turn from good to great, and he's put the team in a profitable spot for the rest of the decade.

This article first appeared on New York Knicks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: