During a trade season that has seen Luka Doncic, Zach LaVine, and Jimmy Butler find new homes, the Knicks have quietly made a move of their own. As part of the trade that sent Khris Middleton to DC and Kyle Kuzma to Milwaukee, the Knicks traded backup center Jericho Sims to the Bucks.

In return, the Knicks acquire veteran guard Delon Wright and cash considerations. Wright is in his tenth season, and the Knicks will be his tenth team. While not a shocker like the Doncic trade, the move is about the Knicks prioritizing certain assets and playing the PR game of trade involvement.

Sims was selected 58th overall in the 2021 Draft, a spot in the late second round that doesn’t usually produce household names. Since 2000, the most recognizable name drafted in that spot is likely Paul Reed, drafted by the Sixers in 2020. Ironically, Sims’ teammate and likely depth chart replacement, Ariel Hukporti, was also selected as the 58^th pick.

Sims joined the team as a project—despite playing four seasons at Texas, he was incredibly unrefined. His elite attribute has always been his leaping ability. We can all remember at least one memorable Sims dunk during his time with the team. For me, it was an alley-oop from Immanuel Quickley against the Jazz in 2022.

The issue with Sims is that while he is a prolific leaper, the rest of his game struggled to develop in the Thibodeau system. Sims was functional as a lob threat but often froze when the ball was in his hands, and his decision-making was not decisive enough. These shortcomings caused his minutes to become erratic as he lost Thibs’ trust. But perhaps more than anything, the arrival of Ariel Hukporti spelled doom for Sims’ tenure with the team.

The rookie from Germany has gotten extended minutes in the last two contests in the wake of the OG Anunoby injury and has looked impressive. He has been involved in the offense as a screener and has shown the decision-making skills that Sims lacked. On defense, he more than held his own against the Raptors’ Scottie Barnes, flashing potential that sent the message to Leon Rose that they could move off Sims in favor of Hukporti.

On top of that, Sims was an interesting trade candidate because he has an expiring contract after this season. Delon Wright is also an expiring contract, and it will be interesting to see if the Knicks keep him as a depth piece for the bench or try to flip him in a deal in the waning hours of the deadline. All in all, the Knicks got some value back for a player they were unlikely to re-sign, which is just good basketball business.

The Knicks’ involvement in this trade is also about relationship-building in the NBA. In the current CBA with first and second aprons, trades become a little trickier than they used to be in previous years (unless you’re the Mavericks and are hell-bent on getting minimal value for a generational superstar) and require more creativity. We saw this in the Jimmy Butler trade. At one point, this trade involved five different teams with contracts moving around to facilitate the move. Add-on teams will often take on a contract and acquire more value to make the deal work.

Doing this is a gesture of goodwill and a bit of gamesmanship between the people that make the decisions for NBA franchises. Getting involved in this sort of deal shows the teams in the trade (and the rest of the league) that you are willing to play ball and facilitate when needed.

This is the sort of relationship-building that we see all throughout corporate America and the NBA is no exception. What Leon Rose did here was two-fold. He identified that the long-term viability of the asset (Sims) was negligible. He also saw an build rapport with two teams that could be trade partners in the future.

All in all, this was a smart move by the Knicks to identify that they have something tangible in Hukporti and give Jericho Sims, who had been a model citizen in the organization, a chance to play for his next contract on a playoff team that needs some center depth. Best of luck in Milwaukee, Jericho. We will always remember the dunks.