Knicks Rumors: Bruce Brown Trade Interests Some Within NY Ahead of 2024 NBA Deadline

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Bruce Brown might not want to get too comfortable in Toronto.

After the Indiana Pacers announced they traded Brown, Kira Lewis Jr., Jordan Nwora and three first-round draft picks to the Toronto Raptors for Pascal Siakam on Wednesday, Ian Begley of SNY reported the New York Knicks are interested in potentially bringing in Brown ahead of the February 8 trade deadline.

“I was told there is some internal interest in going after Bruce Brown from the Knicks as far as a trade candidate here,” he said “… There are some people with the Knicks that would love to bring him on ahead of the trade deadline.”

Interest in Brown is nothing new for New York, as Begley pointed out he took one of his free-agency meetings there before signing with the Pacers.

From Toronto’s perspective, it seemed to indicate a shift into rebuilding mode when it traded a two-time All-Star in Siakam. Brown has a $23 million club option on his contract for next season and would hit free agency if his team doesn’t exercise it, so it is difficult to envision him being an important part of the next contending Raptors team.

That means the front office could look to flip him for more draft assets to add to the significant haul it received from the Pacers in the latest deal.

Enter the Knicks, who are 24-17 and sitting in the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference. They are also just four games out of the No. 2 seed.

They already made waves with the Raptors earlier this season by trading RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round draft pick to Toronto for OG Anunoby, Malachi Flynn and Precious Achiuwa, so negotiating with each other will be familiar during any ensuing Brown discussions.

Brown is the type of do-it-all role player who could fit in alongside Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle and take advantage of spacing on the offensive side while assuming more of the defensive responsibilities.

He is averaging 12.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from deep this season.

He also helped the Denver Nuggets win the championship last season with similar numbers (11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals) and would bring postseason experience to a New York team looking to make a deep run in 2024.