Knicks Should Risk It All For Kevin Durant

The New York Knicks are linked in trade rumors for Kevin Durant, but there are a lot of moving parts that surround a potential deal.

CBS Sports writer Sam Quinn looks at the chance of Durant coming to the Knicks in a trade.

"Is that risk worth the reward an upgrade like this promises? That depends on how you'd define success," Quinn wrote. "The Knicks came within six games of the title this season. On paper, that is a successful season. Given the state of the Eastern Conference, it's not hard to imagine them replicating that feat and potentially even beating Indiana in a rematch if everything goes right. There's something to be said for a relatively comfortable 50-to-55 wins. It gives you a chance."

"But if New York's goal is to plausibly build the best team in the NBA, no, that isn't happening as currently constructed. If the healthy Knicks and the healthy Thunder had met in the 2025 NBA Finals, the Thunder would have won that series comfortably. If the Knicks want to put themselves in a position to compete with teams like the Thunder on even footing, it has to come through some sort of high-risk, high-reward transaction. Maybe that's a coaching change. Maybe that's through another blockbuster we aren't seeing right now. But acquiring a top-15 player in NBA history and hoping he has at least one more peak season in him would certainly qualify."

Durant may not be the player he was when he was an MVP candidate a decade ago, but he can still be one of the best players in the league. He averaged 26.6 points per game for the Suns this past season, which ranked sixth in the entire league.

Adding him would put the Knicks in a position to win, so they should look into what it will take to acquire him.