This is the move I would make if I were Sam Presti. The NY Knicks are one of the worst run sports franchises in all of pro sports. They’ve missed the post season in twelve out of the past fifteen years. Their fans are angry they did nothing of consequence during this free agent derby while Brooklyn landed Durant and Kyrie.
They need something of entertainment relevance attached to their brand. The Thunder are in tank mode after squandering away the golden years of Durant, Westbrook, Harden , and Paul George. The OKC fanbase is in a word …spoiled.
In a weird way the Knicks and the Thunder need each other. And given they both have the distinction of being stupid enough to sign Carmelo Anthony it’s almost somewhat poetic this Westbrook for Barrett deal be made for both parties.
Westbrook is a peacock. He’s not winning anything in Miami, so if you’re not going to win anything then go ahead and play inside the mecca of basketball in Madison Square Garden and be close to your real passion….being a fashion upstart. Why not?
This won’t be like Mark Messier winning a Stanley Cup with the NY Rangers, but it should provide entertainment value for both franchises.
Presti needs to convince his fanbase he knows what he’s doing during this rebuild and if nothing else RJ Barrett teamed with SGA and all these draft picks gives hope the Thunder can once again be relevant in three years.
To me…this makes much more sense than trading Westbrook to Miami where he could dilute the Miami picks the Thunder just acquired from the Clippers.
This is what I would do, but who knows with Sam Presti.
Who really knows?