Now that Sacramento Kings divulged that 23-year-old shooting guard Ben McLemore is up for trading, teams have reportedly show interest for a deal. Rumor mill suggests that one of them is New York Knicks. This is in line with the earlier reports that Sacramento Kings are looking for a fresh roster this season and are looking to trade Ben McLemore, Kosta Koufos, and Rudy Gay. The two shooting guards Aaron Afflalo and Malachi Richardson outperform McLemore that led Kings to pitch him for trading.
In an article by Sportsblog, the publication said that it is in the best interest for McLemore to change the environment to improve his game which he sporadically achieved in Kings because of the team's maladjusted franchise. It didn't help that it is his starting team and young new players may have a hard time settling into an NBA court.
According to Fansided, a possible trade that the Knicks could do is to deliver Kyle O'Quinn along with a future draft pick. In acquiring McLemore, Knicks could invest with their younger players in Maurice Ndour and Willy Hernangomez. Knicks are also in need of a backup shooting guard which could be filled by Mclemore.
However, Knicks recently acquired Justin Holiday in the Derrick Rose trade to be a backup shooting guard for Courtney Lee. If Knicks would accept the deal from Kings in acquiring Mclemore, the two shooting guard backups would be on par with each other. According to an article by Sportsrageous, McLemore outperforms Holiday based on their stats where he averaged slightly better than Holiday in points, assists, rebounds, and steals per game. Other reports suggest that Holiday could just be a traded piece for Knicks. With this McLemore could get the backup shooting guard position. Jeff Hornacek, Knicks head coach, could help McLemore improve his game and address his deviations in court.
