Buying or Selling Knicks' Biggest Concerns Entering December

The New York Knicks are a quarter of the way through the 2022-23 NBA season and still trying to find their footing.

The offense can be electric, but it can fail to ignite some nights. The defense occasionally blankets opponents but often offers little more resistance than a wet paper bag.

Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett all resemble stars on their best nights, but they don't maintain that level consistently enough to actually rank among the Association's elite.

So, should Knicks fans brace themselves for a frustration-filled season of highs and lows? Or can some of these early struggles be erased with time?

To answer those questions, we're putting three of the biggest concerns to the buy-or-sell test.

On a macro level, RJ Barrett's position as the most important player for the franchise hasn't changed. He's the youngest member of the Knicks' top trio and the one who had the most pre-draft pedigree, costing the club the No. 3 pick in 2019.

Through the micro lens of this season, though, the 22-year-old is handling a bigger role than his game can support. He averages the most field-goal attempts on the team (16.2) and has the lowest effective field-goal percentage among its rotation regulars (44.7, per Basketball-Reference).

The Duke product has his moments, but they are few and far between. His cost is going up—the $107 million extension he inked this summer hasn't kicked in yet—and his efficiency keeps going down.

The Knicks have little choice but to stick with Barrett and hope he works his way out of this. There's little reason to believe a breakthrough is coming, though.

Verdict: Regretfully buy. Barrett is too young to completely abandon hope, but he simply hasn't become the player the Knicks need him to be.

Thank goodness Brunson has helped goose the offense, because this defense isn't nearly what New York hoped—and needed—it to be.

Last season, the Knicks had the league's 11th-stingiest defense, per NBA.com; this year, they've dropped all the way to 24th. They've mitigated some of the damage by climbing to 10th in offensive efficiency (they were 23rd last season), but this hardly looks like an attack capable of single-handedly leading a deep playoff push.

New York isn't built to win with offense. Tom Thibodeau wouldn't be the coach if that was the aim. If the offense stays in the upper half, the defense doesn't have to dominate, but it can't be a liability, either.

Verdict: Sell. The numbers aren't great, but Thibodeau should have enough on this roster to turn things around.

Evan Fournier has the club's third-highest cap hit, per Spotrac. He hasn't had a rotation spot since the middle of the month.

The 30-year-old played just 13 games (seven starts) before being yanked out of the game plan and never found his shooting touch. By the time of his benching, he was posting his worst-ever connection rates from the field (34.4) and from three (33.3).

So, is this it? Are his days as a regular contributor for this club already behind him? Yeah, it kind of feels that way.

Fournier has always been a mildly efficient offensive specialist, and the Knicks aren't as desperate for points as they have been. His three-ball (career 38 percent) should theoretically have trade value, but his contract torpedoes that entirely.

Verdict: Buy. He doesn't do enough offensively to overcome his defensive limitations, and his bloated contract effectively makes him untradeable.