Keep keeping Brunson, the Knicks upper limit is the only way to trade Harden

If the Knicks really want to win the championship, they might as well trade Brunson to Harden and keep Brunson, and the team's ceiling is just that.

Brunson was selected by the Mavericks in the second round in 2018. At that time, the Mavericks had Doncic, and Brunson was mostly a substitute in the first three years. Although the data is not that impressive, it is quite efficient. During the Mavericks, Brunson repeatedly proposed that the team hoped that the team would renew their contract with 55 million yuan for four years, but the Mavericks never agreed. Later, Brunson's data became better and better. The Mavericks wanted to renew their contract at this price, so Brunson quit. In 2022, the Knicks seized the opportunity and signed Brunson for 104 million in four years. After that, Brunson played well in the Knicks and became one of the core players of the team. But as of now, the Knicks have the same results as Brunson, and it is difficult to win the championship in the East. Harden's strength and experience are different. If the Knicks can exchange Harden for Harden, their tactical system and competitiveness will be very different. There may be much hope for winning the championship. In the 2020-21 season, Brunson and Doncic started together and performed very well. In the regular season, Brunson averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. In the playoffs, he was even more fire-fired, with his average score soaring to 21.6 points, and also helped the Mavericks reach the Western Conference Finals. Now, Brunson can prove his strength. The Mavericks boss Cuban then realized and hurriedly sent a four-year contract of 55 million, hoping to keep this powerful general. But Brunson quits, why? It turned out that before this, Brunson had repeatedly proposed to the Mavericks that he wanted to renew his contract with this price, but he was ruthlessly rejected by the Mavericks. Now that he has made it himself, the Mavericks have negotiated at the same price, so Brunson is certainly not happy. At this time, the Knicks came with sincerity and offered Brunson a generous contract of $104 million for four years. Without hesitation, Brunson accepted it directly, turned around and put on the Knicks' robe, embarking on a new journey.

In the past three years, he has been firmly in the starting lineup. With his own strength, he has been successfully selected as the All-Star, and has replaced Randall and become the new "King of New York". The Knicks management also determined to build a team around him, and kept moving, and traded Hart, Anunobi, Bridges and Towns one after another. In three years, except for Brunson, the other four starting positions were changed. The team did this to build the strongest lineup based on Brunson's playing style. Last summer, the Knicks expressed high recognition and firm support for Brunson with a four-year, $157 million contract extension. Under the leadership of Brunson, the Knicks' record has steadily improved and they have successfully entered the Eastern Conference Finals this season. Although they regretted losing to the Indiana Pacers in the end, Brunson's outstanding performance in the game has won unanimous praise from fans and the media. Now Brunson has become the Knicks' signature star, and the team will have to rely on him to continue to rush in the future.

The Knicks performed well this season and reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Take the lineup for example. There are strong players like Brunson, Bridges, Anunobi, and Towns, who are quite strong on paper. But who would have thought that when they met the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, they were eliminated 4-2. This result is really surprising, after all, the Knicks have the advantage in books. Next season, Brunson officially starts his first year of a new contract, with an annual salary of up to $34.94 million. Bridges and Mitchell Robinson's contracts are in their final year. Bridges averaged 37 minutes per game this season and has been attending all seven seasons in his career. He can renew his contract with the Knicks for up to $156.1 million for four years, but whether the team will continue or not is still unknown. For the Knicks, we need to think carefully about how to adjust the lineup around Brunson and strive to achieve better results next season. Don’t let the great opportunity slip away like this year.

Let's talk about Brunson. He has indeed played well in the Knicks in recent years, but if he has been kept, the team's ceiling may be at the level of the Eastern Conference Finals, and his performance will even decline in the future. Brunson is quite strong in offense and has no idea about scoring ability, but when he is tall, his defense becomes a weakness and is always targeted by his opponent. Looking at the linkage organization, Brunson is not particularly outstanding. Take the playoffs that just ended for example. He averaged only 5.7 assists per game, but Halliburton of the Pacers averaged 10.5 assists per game. The gap suddenly came out, which made the Knicks almost feel like they were in offensive cooperation. Although the Knicks have traded Hart, Anunobi, Bridges and Towns in recent years, and the paper lineup looks quite strong, but when it comes to the Eastern Conference Finals, when encountering the Pacers, the problem is exposed. So, the Knicks may really have to consider whether to trade Brunson to rebuild the lineup and find new hopes for the championship.

In the first round of this year's playoffs, the Knicks met the Pistons, and the Knicks' Brunson faced the Pistons' Cningham. Don't underestimate Cunningham. Although he had no playoff experience before, his performance in this round of the series was amazing, with an average of 25 points per game, 8.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists, plus 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks, almost hit a quasi-triple double. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks faced the Pacers, and Brunson's defensive shortcomings were fully exposed. Halliburton averaged only about 18 points per game throughout the playoffs, but in the Knicks series, facing Brunson's defense, he felt like he was cheating. He averaged 21 points per game, grabbed 6 rebounds, sent 10.5 assists, and had 2.5 steals, but only 1.7 turnovers per game. From the data, we can see that Brunson could not give Halliburton enough defensive pressure, making people feel so comfortable on the court. The Knicks finally lost the series. Brunson's performance on the defensive end really has to take a lot of blame..

In order to ensure the score, he occupied a large number of shots in the team, and averaged up to 21.8 shots per game, which ranks fourth in the league. In comparison, the second-in-commander of the team, Towns, averaged only 15.8 shots per game. Towns has a good offensive ability. This season, he averaged 24.3 points per game and his three-point shooting percentage was as high as 42.5%. However, with Brunson's high shooting percentage, Towns's performance space was significantly compressed. Not only that, Brunson's performance in connecting the team was not satisfactory. The Knicks have a luxurious lineup, with Anunobi, Hart, Bridges and Towns, all of whom are All-Star players, but Brunson cannot connect them well, which greatly reduces the team's overall strength. Halliburton of the Pacers averaged 10.5 assists per game in the playoffs, revitalizing the entire team. In contrast, Brunson averaged only 5.7 assists per game in the playoffs. With the strength of these four All-Star teammates, the team's record is likely to be no worse than it is now, and it may even be even better than it is.

, and Brunson's ability to connect teammates is not enough, so he cannot fully stimulate the energy of All-Star teammates such as Anunobi, Hart, Bridges and Towns. In my opinion, the Knicks might as well trade Brunson with the Clippers for Harden. On the Clippers, although Leonard and George are strong, their offensive firepower is sometimes poor, and there is one who can score stably like Harden. On the Knicks' lineup is not bad on paper, but what they lack is a squad master like Harden who can revitalize the entire team. Besides, Towns in the Knicks, the problem is also quite prominent. On the defensive end, he performed poorly; on the offense, he seemed to have good data, but in fact he had some waves, and he still lacked the ability to solve the problem of a final decision at a critical moment, and his movement speed was slow when breaking through. If the Knicks want to make a big breakthrough in their record, lineup adjustment is imperative, and trading may be a good way to change the situation.