Knicks Trading for Alec Burks, Bojan Bogdanovic to Boost Title Hopes

The New York Knicks and Leon Rose made a massive trade with the Detroit Pistons hours before Thursday's deadline. The Knicks are set to acquir Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic in exchange for Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier, Ryan Arcidiacano, and two second-round picks per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

For New York, the move to reunite with Burks gives the offense a high-upside bench scorer that can help lead the second unit, which has struggled since the OG Anunoby deal. The addition of Bogdanovic gives the Knicks a forward that can provide the team with help at forward while Julius Randle remains injured.

The instant reaction is that the move is great for the Knicks as they've now acquired Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, Bogdanovic, and Burks all without trading a first-round pick -- holding their premium capital for the summer when they may acquire a superstar.

Bogdanovic is scoring 20.2 points per game with 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while also adding a massive three-point threat as he shoots 41.5% from deep. Burks has familiarity having played on the Knicks with coach Thibodeau in the past and adds 12.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.6 APG.

The starting five will likely remain some combination of Hartenstein, Randle, Anunoby, Jalen Brunson, and either Josh Hart or Donte DiVincenzo. The Knicks can now bring Bogdanovic, Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart, Achiuwa, Burks, Miles McBride, and Jericho Sims off of the bench and Thibodeau will have his deepest Knicks team yet.

As for the pieces departing, all were mostly expected to leave this deadline so nothing is a shock. Fournier hasn't played much this season and Grimes has seen his playing time dwindle as the year progresses which made him expendable. Flynn and Arcidiacano were end-of-the-bench players who were only seeing playing time in mop-up duty and due to injuries.

New York Knicks: Is this it for trades?

The expectations are likely that the Knicks are done with tinkering with the roster after the OG Anunoby deal and this one. However, the Knicks still have plenty of assets heading into the offseason or to make one more move to push this team toward title contention.

If this was the final move of the deadline, the Knicks have flipped this team entirely and have enough to make a push for the NBA Finals.

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