The Milwaukee Bucks and Damian Lillard affected not only the New York Knicks but also the entire NBA. New York last season was the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. They won a playoff round. They defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers before falling to the Miami Heat in six games in the second round.
Everyone views the Bucks and the Boston Celtics as the best teams in the Eastern Conference and that no one can potentially beat them before the Eastern Conference Finals. Knicks fans and media believe that the championship window has shut already for the next several years after this deal, thinking the championship window just opened.
Gio of WFAN on Thursday morning said:
“It’s gonna be damn near impossible for the Knicks to win a title in the next 6-7 years, when you feel like you were close. The only way they can do it is some miracle acquisition of Luka Doncic, because he wants to play with Luka Doncic again…or they somehow draft a guy, which is a bigger miracle, who turns into the next Jokic in the second round or late first round, and they just stumble upon him.”
He is not wrong by any means with that statement because all it is for the New York Knicks right now is Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Julius Randle as their primary players. The Milwaukee Bucks are better than them by miles and will actually face each other on Christmas Day this season.
The only hope for the New York Knicks to compete with the Milwaukee Bucks Down the Road is for a possible Joel Embiid Philadelphia 76ers Trade
There is a chance things can unravel down I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike for the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid could very well be linked and rumored to the New York Knicks in the future. Gio also added on WFAN:
“If the Bucks didn’t get Lillard and Giannis getting upset, I could have seen him forcing his way to come here. Now Lillard isn’t here and Giannis isn’t coming. If you think ‘What about Joel Embiid?’ you think the 76ers and the Knicks are gonna make a deal? You think the 76ers are gonna sit there and watch Joel Embiid win a championship with the Knicks? Are you crazy?”
Gio is also correct about the Knicks possibly never making a trade within the division with the 76ers. Joel Embiid in New York would be another NBA storyline. However, unless Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard seem to get hurt for the Milwaukee Bucks, there seems to be no title hopes for the New York Knicks franchise for now.
