The New York Knicks have made another big move in an attempt to ascend in the Eastern Conference, acquiring scorers Bogdan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Detroit Pistons in one of the headline deals commenced prior to Thursday's NBA trade deadline.

New York will send guards Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn and Ryan Arcidiacono along with two second-round draft picks to Detroit in exchange for two players who are both shooting over 40 per cent from 3-point range this season.

Bogdanovic is averaging 20.2 points per game after establishing a career best in that category last season, when the Croatian averaged a team-leading 21.6 points in 59 games.

Burks, who previously spent two seasons with the Knicks from 2020-22, has shot better than 40 per cent on 3-point attempts in four straight seasons and is averaging 12.6 points in 43 games in 2023-24.

New York is presently tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for third in the East and is 16-3 since Jan. 1, two days after it secured defensive standout OG Anunoby in a blockbuster five-player trade with the Toronto Raptors.

The team right behind the Knicks and Bucks in the East race added a sharpshooter of its own on Thursday, as the Philadelphia 76ers landed guard Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers for forward Marcus Morris, guard Furkan Korkmaz and three second-round picks.

Hield, a career 40.1 per cent 3-pointer shooter who is averaging 12 points in 52 games this season, will be asked to help stabilise a reeling 76ers team that has lost seven of its last eight games and will be without Joel Embiid for at least four more weeks after the reigning NBA MVP recently underwent surgery on his left knee. 

Indiana, which sits two games back of Philadelphia in sixth place, later traded Morris to the San Antonio Spurs for outside shooting specialist Doug McDermott.

Milwaukee's lone deadline move came via a trade with the 76ers for veteran defensive stopper Patrick Beverley, in which the Bucks sent fellow point guard Cameron Payne to Philadelphia.

The most active team in the Western Conference was the Dallas Mavericks, who swung two deals to bolster their frontcourt by obtaining center Daniel Gafford from the Washington Wizards and forward P.J. Washington from the Charlotte Hornets.

Gafford, whose 2.16 blocks per game ranks seventh among qualified NBA players, heads to Dallas for forward RIchaun Holmes and a 2024 first-round pick the Mavs acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Mavericks also sent a 2027 first-round selection, along with forward Grant Williams and guard Seth Curry, to rebuilding Charlotte for Washington, who's averaged 14.9 points and five rebounds per game over the past two seasons and is under contract for two more years.

Dallas currently sits in eighth in the West but is just two games behind the fifth-place Phoenix Suns, who traded four role players in a three-team deal with Brooklyn and Memphis to add perimeter-shooting forward Royce O'Neale from the Nets and second-year forward David Roddy from the Grizzlies.

Three teams - the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves and defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets - entered deadline day tied atop the West. The Thunder were the only one of that group to make a significant move on Thursday, as they acquired former All-Star Gordon Hayward from the Hornets for guards Tre Mann and Vasilije Micic, forward Davis Bertans and a pair of second-round picks.

The 33-year-old Hayward is averaging 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 25 games this season but has been sidelined since late December by a calf strain. 

One player who did stay put with the Hornets is Miles Bridges, the team's second-leading scorer at 21.9 points per game and an unrestricted free agent next season. Bridges had the right to veto any trade as part of the one-year contract he signed during the offseason to stay in Charlotte.

 

 

 

The Detroit Pistons etched their name into the history books Tuesday, setting the NBA single-season record with their 27th straight loss, 118-112 to the Brooklyn Nets.

Cam Johnson scored 24 points and Mikal Bridges added 21 for the Nets, who handed the Pistons their 26th consecutive loss on Saturday.

Cade Cunningham poured in 37 of his 41 points in the second half and shot 15 of 21, but Detroit broke a tie with the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28 straight losses, a skid that started in 2014-15 and carried over into 2015-16.

The Pistons’ next chance to end the streak is Thursday at league-leading Boston.

Cunnigham made a pair of layups to draw the Pistons within 112-110 with less than a minute remaining, but Dorian Finney-Smith sank a baseline 3-point to put the Nets up 115-110 with 38 seconds left.

Alec Burks then missed a 3-pointer and Bridges hit two free throws for a 117-110 advantage.

Grizzlies win in OT, improve to 4-0 since Morant’s return

Ja Morant scored 31 points and the Memphis Grizzlies rallied for a 116-115 win in overtime against the New Orleans Pelicans to improve to 4-0 since he made his season debut a week earlier.

Desmond Bane scored 27 points, including a key 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation and the clinching free throw with 4 seconds left in overtime.

Jaren Jackson Jr. added 19 points, redeeming his missed free throw at the end of regulation with a pair of baskets late in OT that gave Memphis the lead for good.

Morant has averaged 28.8 points in four games since he returned from his 25-game NBA suspension after the Grizzlies were 6-19 in his absence.

Zion Williamson had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who also lost a double-digit, second-half lead to Memphis in the previous meeting.

Kings’ Fox scores 43 in loss to Trail Blazers

De’Aaron Fox had 43 points but it wasn’t enough as Anfernee Simons scored 29 to lift the Portland Trail Blazers to a 130-113 win over the Sacramento Kings.  

Duop Reath added a career-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench for the Blazers, who got 19 points from Malcolm Brogdon and 17 and 11 assists from rookie Scoot Henderson.

Fox was 16 of 26 from the field and 7 of 15 from long range while adding eight rebounds and four assists. Domantas Sabonis scored 34 points, but no other Sacramento player was in double figures.

The New York Knicks have removed struggling star Kemba Walker from the rotation, head coach Tom Thibodeau announced on Monday.

Walker joined the Knicks on a two-year, $20million contract at the start of the season after being bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder following a trade from the Boston Celtics.

The four-time All-Star, who struggled to reach his lofty heights with the Celtics, has been averaging career lows in points (11.7), assists (3.1), rebounds (2.6), field-goal attempts per game (9.8) and minutes per game (24.5).

Not only has Walker been removed from the starting line-up, but the 31-year-old guard is also not part of the rotation heading into Tuesday's clash with crosstown rivals the Brooklyn Nets.

"It's a tough decision to make, but you always have to do what you think is best for the team," Thibodeau told reporters, with the Knicks turning to Alec Burks.

"I view Kemba as a starter, and so it'd be tough to play three small guards together. I gave it consideration, and I've got great respect for who Kemba is as a person and all he's accomplished in this league.

"But I have to do what I think is best for the team."

The Knicks have struggled for form since ending their playoff drought last season, 11-9 in 2021-22 – three games behind the Eastern Conference-leading Nets and one ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers in 11th position.

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