Cam Reddish played five minutes in his Knicks debut on Sunday. He didn’t play at all in the Knicks’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.
On the surface, this doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Why would the Knicks trade a 2022 first-round pick for Reddish and then bury him on the bench?
It’s a valid question.
But I think it’s too soon to know the answer. Just my opinion: I doubt that the Reddish-to-NYK trade happens if the Knicks didn’t have a role in mind for the 22-year-old.
There are too many people involved in all sides of the transaction for a player in Reddish’s position to be moved to a team with no plans to play him.
That’s why I expect the Knicks to explore further trade options ahead of the Feb. 10 deadline.
I would be surprised if the Knicks have the same roster after the deadline.
The way things currently stand, there is no obvious path to the rotation for Reddish.
Tom Thibodeau relies on Alec Burks, so he’s not exiting the rotation right now. Evan Fournier isn’t leaving the rotation, either.
What about Quentin Grimes?
If you listen to Thibodeau talk about Grimes, it doesn’t sound like the rookie will be the odd man out to make room for Reddish.
Here is what Thibodeau had to say about Grimes after the Knicks’ loss in Cleveland:
“For a young guy to come in the league, he’s not perfect but he plays hard on every possession. And there’s a physicality to him, there’s a toughness to him. Those things are important, a competitiveness. So there’s a multiple effort (habit), that’s ingrained in him. He takes the right shots. That’s important. That’s a big part of winning. So we need toughness, we need toughness.”
Grimes, you’ll remember, was coveted by the Atlanta Hawks in the Reddish trade. New York ultimately decided that Grimes was untouchable in that deal.
So it seems like you can pencil Grimes into the rotation moving forward.
He’s earned the role. He plays with energy, provides capable point-of-attack defense, and can knock shots down.
That still leaves the question about Reddish’s role unanswered.
Again, just my opinion: The most likely result here is a Knicks trade that creates a rotation spot for Reddish.
I can’t see a trade like this coming together if the Knicks didn’t have plans to play him.
Now, plans made by management can differ from plans made by the coaching staff. That’s not uncommon in the NBA.
So it’s possible that Knicks management made the trade thinking Reddish would play but the coaching staff wasn’t on board.
But I would be surprised if that were the case here. Thibodeau has a significant voice in personnel moves. There’s no reason to think he didn’t sign off on the Reddish trade.
That’s just another reason to expect the Knicks to make a trade of some kind that creates a role for Reddish.
