Knicks trade offer for Joel Embiid won’t ‘get it done’: report

In order to take that next step forward, the Knicks need a superstar.

And though they have been linked to Joel Embiid, the reigning NBA MVP from the Philadelphia 76ers, the team’s beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer doesn’t think the Knicks have enough to offer.

Keith Pompey reported last month that the Knicks were wiling to offer three of the four of Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson and Evan Fournier along with two or three first-round picks for Embiid.

But in an interview Monday with SNY, Pompey conceded: “Right now, I don’t think that that will get it done.”

Pompey then clarified: “Now again, it’s not like the Knicks are calling the 76ers and saying, ‘Hey look, take these dudes now.’ What it is is, if Joel Embiid decides that he wants to be traded at the end of the season….the Knicks have a package available to whereas they can make a move. Those are the guys.

“Now will that get it done? Probably not.”

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Embiid signed a four-year, $213 million contract extension in 2021 that runs through 2026-27 and averages more than $52 million per season.

He currently leads the NBA in scoring (32.1 points per game) and is tied for fourth in rebounding (11.3).

To be clear, if the Knicks dealt two of their “Big 3′ in Randle and Barrett — as well as Robinson — it would leave Jalen Brunson as the lone remaining star on a team that Embiid would hypothetically join.

The Knicks last season won a playoff series for the first time in a decade before losing to Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Sixers, meantime, blew a 3-2 lead to the Boston Celtics in the conference semis.

By adding Embiid to a team featuring Brunson, the Knicks would be good but wouldn’t necessarily be as good or better than the Celtics — who now feature Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday — or the Milwaukee Bucks, who have a 1-2 punch of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

The Sixers (11-5) are also playing good ball after dealing James Harden to the LA. Clippers, and unleashing Tyrese Maxey. Meantime, Embiid appears happier with his current team than he has been in the past.

“The ball is moving,” Embiid said earlier this month. “No matter if the shots are going in or not, guys are just happy worrying about the right things — which is to win. That’s the only thing that matters, and that’s the only thing that should matter.”

“No one has an ego.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.