New York Knicks fans have deja vu over Davis to Lakers trade

Anthony Davis got his wish and was traded to Los Angeles earlier this week. The Lakers essentially traded away their future to make it happen. It’s the same thing the New York Knicks did to get Carmelo Anthony in 2011.

Well, it finally happened, Anthony Davis is a Laker and not a member of the New York Knicks. Kudos to both teams for essentially completing the same trade that former New Orleans GM Dell Demps and the “totally trying at his job” Magic Johnson couldn’t. The general reaction is that this was a good deal for both teams, which leaves me a little confused.

The Lakers are built on a foundation of the soon to be 35-years-old LeBron James, with roughly a million miles on his body, and who is coming off of the first major injury of his career. I’m not trying to be Nostradamus with this prediction but older players, like James, will be more prone to injury in the future.

His new running mate is the 26-year-old Davis, who in seven NBA seasons has managed to be healthy for two of them. Davis is a tremendous player, if not the best in the league. However, as he enters season number eight it’s safe to say, with that history, he is injury prone.

Also on the purple and gold roster now are Kyle Kuzma, Moritz Wagner, and maybe Nick Van Exel? Is Slava Medvedenko still on the roster? No worries though they may have one more max player coming. At that point, their roster will have seven players with $4.8M dollars in cap space to fill in the rest.

So Kyle Kuzma is the guy the Lakers just HAD to keep in this deal. He is two years older than Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and wait for it… D’Angelo Russell. So far in his career, Kuzma has been an ok scorer, who doesn’t really do anything else particularly well. Totally a keeper.

So how does this relate to the New York Knicks? NYK fans are probably feeling a sense of deja vu. This move brings backs memories of 2011 when they went all in on a 26-year-old superstar that said he wanted to sign with the team as a free agent the following year as well. How did the Carmelo Anthony move turn out for the Knicks?

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In that deal, the New York Knicks gave up Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, Raymond Felton (when he was still a solid point guard), and others, as well as, two second-round picks, a first round pick, and a pick swap. Playing the Kuzma role as the player they absolutely could not give up? Landry Fields. The Knicks got back Anthony, Chauncey Billups and some random bodies for cap filler. The team made one real playoff run in 2012 and then turned into the NBA’s laughingstock.

Will this move be as bad for the Lakers? Well, the Knicks were counting on Amar’e Stoudemire and his ticking time bomb knees. Next season the Lakers are expecting Lebron to play at an All-NBA level and not get hurt during the seasons between his 35th and 38th birthdays.

I’d call that a wash. The players the Lakers gave up have a way higher ceiling than Gallinari or Chandler, but also a lower floor. My guess though is that Lonzo and Ingram eventually have better careers than the aforementioned Knicks duo.

Where the Lakers are really hurt is the draft pick compensation. Three first rounders, including number four this year, and a pick swap. It means that this Lakers group should be falling apart as Lebron approaches 40. That’s a brutal future laid out for L.A., I’d even dare to say a more bleak future than what the Knicks set themselves up for when they got their man.

Next. Mets look more like a disaster than a championship team. dark

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