Rumors swirled about Victor Oladipo wanting to be elsewhere when the shooting guard was sent to Houston in the James Harden deal. The former Pacer has settled in nicely with his new team, helping them exceed expectations early on.
Yet, no amount of success leading up to the March 25 trade deadline is going to make potential suitors take their eye off the situation. Several teams have interest in trading for Oladipo and the Knicks are among them, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of Bleacher Report.
That runs contrary to a report prior to the season by Marc Berman of The New York Post, stating that the franchise had interest over the summer but it cooled off. However, much has changed since prior to the season.
The Knicks have been respectable, going 9-13 so far, behind Tom Thibodeau’s tough defensive scheme. Blakely adds that New York is likely to be a buyer rather than a seller at this year’s deadline and they may try to land a score-first guard. Charlotte’s Devonte’ Graham and Terry Rozier were mentioned as possible targets.
New York had interest in Rozier back when the former Celtics was a free agent in 2019. Ultimately, the guard chose Charlotte and was part of the double sign-and-trade that sent Kemba Walker to Boston.
Follow @FortyEightMinutes for Daily Contests to Win CASH!
The Hornets are 10-11 and are no sure thing to be sellers prior to the trade deadline, though it’s no secret that they’d like to give No. 3 overall pick LaMelo Ball a larger slice of the offensive pie in Charlotte.
The Rockets’ plans are also not known at this time. Many expected them to bottom out after trading away James Harden, though the team is currently in the (very early) playoff picture, sitting at 10-9, which is good for eighth in the Western Conference as of this writing.