ORLANDO, Fla. — The Knicks, under Tom Thibodeau and Leon Rose, have followed the same pattern.
They’ve started seasons slowly, though not necessarily below expectations, and completed an in-season trade meant to rearrange the rotation.
Three of the four times, results were fantastic.
They needed another point guard in 2021, and Derrick Rose was acquired for peanuts — a second-round pick and Dennis Smith Jr. — becoming their best player off the bench.
The Knicks won 16 of 20 to finish the season.
In 2023, the Knicks were hovering around .500 and jolted the energy by dealing for Josh Hart, who helped them win 17 of the final 25 contests.
Last season, they had too many ball-dominant players and not enough wing defenders.
They were just 17-15 before trading for OG Anunoby, and his arrival immediately coincided with 15 victories over 17 games.
The Quentin Grimes swap for Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic was less fruitful, though hardly catastrophic since no draft capital was sacrificed.
The bigger dud was in 2022, when the Knicks got Cam Reddish for a first-round pick.
Reddish, whose acquisition was pushed by since-jettisoned GM Scott Perry, failed to convince Thibodeau he was worthy of consistent playing time.
The Knicks underwhelmed for the majority of Reddish’s New York tenure.
Which brings us to today and the official start to trade season.
Eighty-five players around the league became trade-eligible Sunday because they signed contracts in the summer.
The first dominoes fell with Dennis Schroder going from Brooklyn to Golden State and Thomas Bryant rerouted from Miami to Indiana.
Those trades couldn’t happen until Dec. 15.
Here are five things to know to kick off trade season for the Knicks:
Who is trade-eligible on the Knicks?
The only new player who joined the trade-eligible list Sunday is Cam Payne, who signed as a free agent in mid-July.
Precious Achiuwa becomes eligible Jan. 15 and it’s worth noting that he waived his right to a no-trade clause when signing as a free agent on July 30.
OG Anunoby (Jan. 6) and Jalen Brunson (Jan. 12) can’t be traded until next month, but nobody expects them to move.
Ariel Hukporti and Matt Ryan can’t be traded until Feb. 5, one day prior to the deadline.
What are the Knicks’ assets?
Most of their picks were exhausted in the offseason with the Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns deals, but they still have protected first rounders from the Pistons and Wizards.
The top-10 Wizards pick certainly won’t convey in the next draft, but there’s a small chance the top-13 protected pick from Detroit will squeak in.
These aren’t valuable because of the protections.
They also have several future second-rounders.
As far as players, Miles McBride and Hart are strong assets for win-now teams.
We’re assuming the Knicks don’t trade Brunson, Bridges, Towns or Anunoby.
What do the Knicks need?
Center remains the obvious hole.
The Knicks are still waiting for the return of Mitchell Robinson, but there are hardly guarantees he either comes back or stays healthy for long enough to erase the problem.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
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Thibodeau have been using Achiuwa as the lone frontcourt reserve — and he’s more of a power forward than center.
Jericho Sims, who, according to sources, has garnered some interest in the trade market, has seen his playing time decrease amid a quick Thibodeau hook.
Who is out there?
We’re not going to present a full exhaustive list but let’s start with the obvious sellers with big: the Bulls (Nikola Vucevic), Pistons (Isaiah Stewart), Sixers (Andre Drummond), Hornets (Nick Richards, Mark Williams), Raptors (Jakob Poeltl), Wizards (Jonas Valanciunas), Trail Blazers (Robert Williams III), Jazz (Walker Kessler), Pelicans (Daniel Theis).
People around the NBA expect the Nets to unload their veterans — including Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith — and the Pelicans to try to recoup assets for Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones.
Who is the annual superstar wild card?
Tough to say since there’s still two months before the deadline, but buzz is picking up over Jimmy Butler — who has a well-documented fan in Thibodeau.
The Knicks, though, exhausted most of their major assets and Butler, at 35 years old, doesn’t fit the rest of the roster’s age.
But the Heat are at a crossroads with Butler, who can be a free agent after the season and risk losing him for nothing if he’s not traded.
