The New York Knicks are reportedly getting desperate to add another superstar to convince Carmelo Anthony to re-sign with the team when he becomes a free agent next summer.
The Knicks will have the ability to offer Anthony a more lucrative offer compared to other teams, but sources said that the chance to win his first title, not money, will be on top of the priority list of Anthony.
Basketball Insiders reported that the Knicks are still very interested in trading for Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry and Boston Celtics All-Star playmaker Rajon Rondo, knowing that their point guard rotation composed of injury prone players like Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni is their weakest spot.
"Where the Knicks would really like to make a radical upgrade is at point guard, which is why they have been connected to talks about Kyle Lowry and now Rajon Rondo," Bill Ingram of Basketball Insiders noted.
However, acquiring Rondo is still a long shot at this point since Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is still remaining firm on his previous stance of keeping Rondo in Boston.
Sources added that the Knicks want to deal Amar'e Stoudemire to the Celtics. The former All-Star is not expected to make an impact on the hardcourt, but his contract could put the Celtics in a better financial situation in the summer of 2015, which is expected to feature several free agent stars.
On the other hand, the Lowry-to-Knicks scenario still looks murky since the Raptors are still asking for too much in exchange for Lowry, who could bolt out the Raptors or the team that will acquire him when he becomes a free agent this summer.
"Toronto's asking price was too high, as they hope to convince Lowry to be their long-term floor general, so the Knicks are hoping to convince Celtics GM Danny Ainge that Amar'e Stoudemire's expiring contract will help them make a huge splash in the next big free agent class: 2015," Ingram added.
Aside from Rondo and Lowry, Houston Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin was also mentioned in trade talks. Previous rumors suggested that the Rockets could be interested in trading Tyson Chandler and Tim Hardaway Jr. in exchange for Lin and Omer Asik before the deadline.
