NBA Rumors: New York Knicks Planning To Keep Disgruntled Point Guard

Frank Ntilikina must be secured of his spot in the New York Knicks line up, at least for now. Team president Leon Rose is said to be unwilling to shop the disgruntled point guard as the new leadership begins to reshape the franchise from the ground up. Notably, the Frenchman was involved in a series of trade talks in the past.

Change has started to be felt inside the Knicks camp since Rose was appointed of his executive position. Faced with a daunting task of repairing a relatively muddled organization, one of the initial modifications the ex-agent would perform is reportedly avoiding any possible swap deals that will involve the third-year guard.

That is what was revealed by SNY’s Ian Bagley, who said on Wednesday, "Leon Rose isn't going to be out there shopping Frank Ntilikina as the Knicks had been previously.”

The eighth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft had been placed in several exchange rumors when the Knicks were then under the reign of Steve Mills. In fairness to the former executive, trading Ntilikina was justifiable to an extent as the latter was hampered by injuries which led to an inconsistent play for New York.

Despite being a fan-favorite, stats would prove that Ntilikina has not quite lived up to his billing yet. As it stands, he is not completely out of the woods.

Begley implies that it is a wait-and-see situation for the Knicks and the 21-year-old, who can still be at risk of being sent elsewhere whenever Rose deems necessary.

But the chances this time could be significantly lower than in the previous years. According to Begley, Ntilikina had bucked a 75% chance of being traded prior to the 2019 Draft, where the Knicks sought a second-round pick in return.

In December 2019, Ntilikina was allegedly offered for a late first-rounder, which never materialized.

This season, the 6’4 guard started in 26 of 57 games played in total. He averaged 6.3 points, three assists and 2.1 rebounds on 39.3% shooting overall, 32.1% from beyond the arc and 86.4% from 15 ft. while playing 20.8 minutes per night.