I’m not necessarily sure how true this rumor can be, seeing as the Sacramento Kings just drafted Ben McLemore to play shooting guard.
With J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. at shooting guard, the Knicks believe the time is now to cash in on Iman Shumpert’s value.
Marc Stein of ESPN is reporting that the Kings indeed have interest in Shumpert.
More and more folks around the league see some sort of Shumpert deal materializing sooner rather than later, given that he’s New York’s only real asset of value to make an in-season move and with the Knicks increasingly confident that they’ve got enough at the position to handle Shumpert’s exit now that J.R. Smith is back and with rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. looking good early.
Word is that the Nuggets do have a level interest — just not if the Knicks keep asking them to part with Kenneth Faried in exchange — while Sacramento is also said to be gauging how Shumpert might fit in.
The reality, though, is that the Knicks had no chance of getting the Nuggets interested in a Shumpert-for-Faried swap without picks to send Denver, too. And the Knicks are essentially bereft of tradeable picks for years.
Until I hear more, this is simply a rumor at best.
The Kings have more shooting guards than any team needs, but I’m not sure they have the bigs the knicks would covet in return.