Wizards free up some room at PF, trade Rui Hachimura to Knicks in exchange for Kevin Knox
After nearly 10 seasons with the Washington Wizards, Rui Hachimura has finally managed to make his way out to what he hopes are greener pastures.
Hachimura was taken in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft by Washington and has been having moderate success at best. Considering the moves that Washington has made in the past couple seasons, allowing Bradley Beal to become available in the expansion draft last season, with the John Wall trade to Boston this season and now this trade to the Knicks, it seems as though they are looking to start the team completely over and build around their young center Michael Wong.
After signing a 5-year contract with the Wizards in 2024, Hachimura saw very little time on the court last season due to a rash of injuries allowing him to only see half the court last season. Coming into this season, he was expected to be shopped. Washington surprised a lot of people when the John Wall trade happened first. He wasn’t seeing a lot of minutes on a Washington team that was deep at the power forward position. Hachimura has averaged about 9.4 points a game this season with the Wizards. He’s only played in about 25 games for the Wizards so far.
Kevin Knox’s time in New York has been winding down for some time now. Lots of people are surprised that he lasted this long in the Big Apple. New York Fans were calling for his head three seasons ago, but with the team being riddled with injury and being thin at small forward, he was able to stick around. When the Knicks lost Sebastio Saramago for 2 weeks, the team managed to hold it together and pull off a few narrow victories, but the depth they were lacking at the forward position was glaring with the increase in minutes, Knox failed time and time again to prove himself.
The Knicks drafted Remy Benoit out of Norfolk State and he managed to win the starting spot in the lineup with Knox playing backup. Benoit is averaging close to 10 points a game, while Knox has averaged 3 points per game. Although Knox will still be a backup at the small forward position in Washington, hopefully, the trade will breathe new life into both players.
