Despite the NBA being on hiatus, the New York Knicks reportedly have Cavaliers executive Brock Aller in their sights.
According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, the New York Knicks are targeting Cleveland Cavaliers executive Brock Aller. The executive was a personal assistant to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert for 10 years before being promoted to his current position in 2017.
Aller was reportedly a key influence in the Cavs-Knicks trade including J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. His current employer, Gilbert, has had nothing but positive things to say about his executive back in 2017.
“He comes up with ideas on things that the league has never heard of, they have to go into their committees to check if it’s OK or not,” Gilbert told Cleveland.com. “He’s sort of a savant with this. He’s a space-creator, the kind of space that [Cavs GM Koby Altman] will need in the cap. He was involved in probably every trade the last few years in a creative sense.”
Aller, as a key contributor to decision-making within the Cavs organization, is probably most remembered for two moves, the Kyrie Irving trade, and Kevin Love’s massive contract.
Trading a disgruntled star is no easy task and it assumes some lost leverage, in this case, for the Cavs. Despite this, the Cavs were able to pry the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick, which ended up becoming Collin Sexton.
However, on the other side, the Cavs also made a somewhat head-scratching decision when they signed aging forward Kevin Love to a four-year, $120 million deal a year after LeBron James left Cleveland.
Love’s contract is set to run out at the end of the 2022-2023 season. He will be 34-years-old, and despite his contributions to a Cavs championship in 2016, the years and money included in that deal have to be questioned considering the Cavs are in the midst of a rebuild.
In the end, no one knows how Leon Rose will construct his first NBA front office. He will certainly need experience and savvy if the Knicks are going to take the necessary steps in their rebuild. Aller may be the right man for the job, but only time will tell.
