Three Knicks players who will likely be traded away at the deadline

Currently holding the fourth-worst record in the NBA, the New York Knicks should be active on the trade market. As the February 6 deadline approaches, they would be smart to acquire young players and draft picks that fit the timeline of their promising young prospects like Mitchell Robinson and RJ Barrett.

Despite having a poor 15-36 record so far this season, the New York Knicks have a few solid role players who could entice contending teams into giving up draft capital for their services. Complicating matters is the dismissal of team President Steve Mills on Tuesday.

General manager Scott Perry is in charge of basketball operations for now. How much does he want to rock the boat with pesky owner James Dolan lurking over his shoulder? If he is operating for long term success, there are deals to be made.

While it’s impossible to predict every single deadline move, here are three players that will likely be ending the 2019-20 season in a different jersey.

Wayne Ellington

The veteran sharpshooter has failed to crack either David Fizdale or Mike Miller’s rotations. As a matter of fact, since Wayne Ellington returned from the Inactive List at the end of December, he’s only seen the floor in six of the Knicks last19 games, logging just 81 minutes of action. Much of his lack of playing time has to do with his failure from behind the arc, shooting a career-low of 30 percent.

However, a playoff team could look past his current flaws and see the bigger picture. Ellington is playing on a team-friendly contract, with just an $8M team option for next year. A new team could easily cut ties with him next summer in order to create some cap flexibility.

Add the fact that he still has a career three-point percentage of 38 percent, and it wouldn’t be hard to see a contending team part with a second-round pick or two in order to help space the floor.