With Jabari Parker’s future in Chicago in doubt, the New York Knicks are among the teams expressing interest in the forward.
Jabari Parker and the Chicago Bulls are proving to be a bad fit for one another. As a result, teams are looking into the possibility of acquiring the embattled forward. According to Ian Begley of ESPN, the New York Knicks are among those teams although nothing is “imminent.”
The Knicks still have some work to do if they want to clear enough cap space to pursue a max free agent next summer. Trading away someone like Tim Hardaway Jr. or Courtney Lee is almost a necessity in order to clear the requisite cap space to sign a player like Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard.
Trading for Parker would help facilitate the salary cap maneuvering because although Parker is making $20 million this year, his contract has a club option for next year. This means that if the Knicks acquired Parker they would undoubtedly decline his club option.
A straight up trade including Parker for Hardaway would work while the same would not work in a straight swap including Parker for Lee.
But this is far more complicated than that. It’s still unclear what it would take for Parker to land in New York and as Begley is reporting, the Knicks are only one team among multiple teams who have expressed interest.
Knicks fans may shudder at the thought of watching Parker play defense in a Knicks uniform, but he could move the team closer to its goal of acquiring a superstar this offseason.
