New York Knicks

Obi Toppin etched his name alongside Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter and others as NBA Slam Dunk Contest champions.

The New York Knicks forward emerged from Saturday's four-man field that included Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets, Cole Anthony of the Orlando Magic and Juan Toscano-Anderson of the Golden State Warriors.

He outlasted Toscano-Anderson in the finals of a competition that was as defined by long stretches of missed dunks and inactivity as the actual dunks. Toppin's final dunk was impressive as he went between his legs, bounced it off the backboard and dunked it to win the trophy.

Toppin got a 45 on his first dunk of the finals and a 47 on the second one.

The biggest storyline going into the competition and for the dunk contest as a whole the past few years is the lack of star power compared to past years when stars such as Jordan, Bryant, Carter, Dwight Howard, Zach LaVine and Donovan Mitchell participated.

Still, Saturday's contest provided an opportunity for some of the league's young high-flyers to take center stage. It also gave Toppin a chance to take the next step after losing to Anfernee Simons of the Portland Trail Blazers in last year's event.

The format was straightforward with each contestant getting two dunks in the opening round. The two dunkers with the highest combined scores advanced to the finals, where they each got two additional dunks with the championship hanging in the balance.

Toppin seized the initial momentum by jumping over someone and going behind-the-back, while Anthony added some originality to the presentation by bringing out his father, Greg, and dunking in Timberland boots.

Toscano-Anderson jumped over Andrew Wiggins for his dunk, but the crowd seemingly started to lose interest when Green brought out an NFT on a chain and then messed up a number of attempts in a row before windmilling off a lob.

Green's second dunk with a spinning attempt that saw him put the ball through his legs, but it wasn't enough to advance past the first round. Anthony also fell short of the finals by missing all of his second attempts.

That cleared the way for Toscano-Anderson and Toppin to make the finals, and the Knicks youngster impressed by passing to himself off the backboard and reversing the ball through his legs for a dunk.

Toscano-Anderson tried to do the famous Vince Carter dunk where he puts half his arm in the hoop to kickstart the finals, but he didn't get high enough to pull it off. Toppin then went a somewhat safe route on his third try of his first finals dunk by going off the backboard and between the legs, but that propelled him into the lead.

Dominique Wilkins apparently saw enough to give him a 10, which put Toscano-Anderson in comeback mode.

The Warriors forward put on a Josh Richardson jersey, but another round of missed dunks gave the trophy to Toppin.

Toppin wasn't the only winner during All-Star Saturday Night, as Karl-Anthony Towns won the Three-Point Contest and the Cavaliers team won the Skills Competition.         

The New York Knicks are reportedly optimistic that veteran guard Derrick Rose will return from his ankle injury after the NBA All-Star break, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said Thursday on NBA Today. 

"There's a lot of optimism that Derrick Rose will be back after the All-Star break," Wojnarowski said. "... He's been ramping up. He has not yet been cleared for contact, but that's coming. And barring any setbacks, the expectation is he'll be back."

Wojnarowski's comments come after he reported Wednesday that "there's confidence" Rose would be ready to return on Feb. 25 against the Miami Heat. Rose also told reporters last month that he expected to return to the court "a little after" the All-Star break. 

The 33-year-old hasn't played since injuring his ankle in a Dec. 16 win over the Houston Rockets and undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur on Dec. 22. 

In 26 games before being sidelined, Rose averaged 12.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 44.5 percent from the floor and 40.2 percent from deep. With Rose sidelined, the Knicks have struggled filling his position. 

Kemba Walker, who joined the Knicks ahead of the 2021-22 season after a two-year stint with the Boston Celtics, is arguably in the midst of his worst season in the NBA. In 37 games, he's averaging 11.6 points, 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 40.3 percent from the floor and 36.7 percent from deep.

Immanuel Quickley, the 25th overall pick in 2020, is averaging 9.4 points, 3.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 36.8 percent from the floor and 32.8 percent from deep through 55 games. 

The Knicks have fell to 12th in the Eastern Conference standings (25-34) with Rose sidelined. They'll need him to return soon to have any hope of making a late push for the playoffs.

The three-time All-Star is in his first full season with the Knicks after joining the franchise in a trade from the Detroit Pistons during the 2020-21 season. He signed a three-year, $43 million deal in August to remain in New York after averaging 14.9 points per game.

New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau could be on the hot seat after his team fell to 25-34 following a disappointing loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. 

"Even before the brutal loss to the Nets, confidence in Thibodeau had diminished among some people of influence at Madison Square Garden," Ian Begley of SNY reported.

Begley also reported executive vice president William Wesley "has been laying the blame for the season—at least in part—on Thibodeau’s coaching." 

The Knicks blew a 28-point lead against the cross-town rivals Wednesday, even though the Nets were without key players like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant or the newly acquired Ben Simmons. It was the third straight loss for New York, which has a 3-13 record over its past 16 games.

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith also discussed Thibodeau's status during a rant on NBA Countdown:

"Thibs, we're hearing that the New York Knicks as an organization ain't too fond of him these days, he might be out," Smith said (:29).

The Knicks have undoubtedly fallen short of expectations, entering Thursday with the fourth-worst record in the Eastern Conference. They are 3.5 games away from even getting into the play-in tournament.

It's a steep drop from last season when the squad earned the No. 4 seed in the East with a 41-31 record.

Thibodeau was named the NBA's Coach of the Year last season, but the inability to follow it up has created questions within the organization.

The coach does still have support in the locker room, including from forward Julius Randle:

The execution certainly leaves a lot to be desired, especially for Randle after last year's All-NBA performance. His scoring has dropped from 24.1 to 19.8 points per game, while his field-goal percentage is down from .456 to .421.

Other veteran players like Kemba Walker and Alec Burks have struggled with efficiency, while injuries to Derrick Rose and Nerlens Noel have also hurt the team.

The buck still stops with Thibodeau as the head coach, which could lead to a change if the losing continues.   

The New York Knicks reached a new low this season when they blew a 28-point lead at home in a loss to the crosstown-rival Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

Knicks forward Julius Randle admitted that the team is frustrated with its performance this season.

"We have good moments, we have bad. But it's tough," Randle told reporters after the game. "We feel like we should be better than what we are right now, obviously, record-wise, but we're not."

The Knicks fell to 25-34 in the 111-106 loss, their third straight and seventh in their last eight games. New York mustered just 19 points in the fourth quarter while giving up 38 to Brooklyn.

Randle led the team with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Immanuel Quickley added 18 off the bench, and Evan Fournier had 16, but they were the only other players to reach double figures.

New York's performance this year has led many to criticize head coach Tom Thibodeau for how he's put together lineups and delegated playing time. But Randle expressed support in Thibodeau, saying it was up to the players to be better.

"Coach is amazing. I'm riding with coach every day," he said. "He challenges us and prepares us very well every day. His message is still ringing clear in the locker room, we've just got to execute."

The Knicks are in last place in the Atlantic Division and 12th place in the Eastern Conference. This season is a stark contrast to last year's team that achieved a postseason berth.

With All-Star weekend on the horizon, the Knicks will enjoy their much-needed break before resuming play against the Miami Heat on Feb. 25.

The New York Knicks chose not to move Mitchell Robinson before Thursday's NBA trade deadline and could now lose him for nothing as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, "The relationship between Robinson and the Knicks currently isn't on firm ground."

The Knicks reportedly had an opportunity to make a trade with four teams interested, including the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons.

Robinson is currently averaging 8.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game in 51 appearances. His 42 starts in 2021-22 are already a career high after he shifted between bench and starting roles throughout his first three years in the NBA.

The 23-year-old has proved to be an elite shot-blocker and is one of the most efficient players in the NBA, ranking 16th in the league this season with 5.9 win shares (ahead of Ja Morant, Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum, among others).

He doesn't stretch the floor offensively and is mostly just a lob threat and offensive rebounder, but those are roles he could fill for a number of teams. Berman reported the Pistons, Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans are among those likely to pursue him.

The Knicks could offer him a five-year extension worth $55 million, though teams that spoke to New York ahead of the deadline reportedly expect Robinson to leave in free agency.

That would mean the Knicks wasted an opportunity to recoup assets in a trade, instead keeping Robinson for the remainder of what seems to be a lost season. The squad entered Monday sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference at 25-32.

There were high expectations entering the year after the Knicks went 41-31 last season and earned the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, and that might've clouded the organization's judgment at the deadline. The Knicks' only trade came in January with the acquisition of Cam Reddish, who has struggled to crack the rotation.

The team instead held on to veterans such as Julius Randle, Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Kemba Walker and Robinson at the deadline.

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard reportedly has less interest in joining the New York Knicks than he did previously amid the Knicks' struggles this season.

According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, a source said going to New York appealed to Lillard more last season when the Knicks were among the NBA's biggest surprises and secured the No. 4 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

This season, the Knicks are a disappointing 25-32, placing them 12th in the Eastern Conference and two games out of the last postseason play-in tournament spot.

Leading up to Thursday's trade deadline, Portland largely dismantled a team that had reached the playoffs in eight straight seasons, raising questions about what the future holds for Lillard.

After sending Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Blazers traded Lillard's longtime backcourt running mate, CJ McCollum, to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Lillard has been out since New Year's Eve after undergoing abdominal surgery, and with the Blazers seemingly not trying to make a push for the playoffs despite being in the Western Conference's final play-in tournament spot with a 23-34 record, it stands to reason that Lillard could miss the rest of the season.

The 31-year-old has spent each of his 10 NBA seasons in Portland, and since he is under contract through at least the 2023-24 campaign, he may be in no imminent danger of leaving.

Per Berman, Blazers insiders believe Lillard is likely to want to stay in Portland for at least one more season now that Neil Olshey is no longer general manager.

If that is the case, it could give the Knicks a bit more time to gather up assets and make a run at Lillard on the trade market.

As things currently stand, Berman noted that the Knicks don't have much to offer aside from draft picks. New York likely doesn't want to part with RJ Barrett, who is a rising star with big-time offensive potential, but one NBA executive told Berman that the Knicks would currently have to trade him to have any hope of landing Lillard.

While Lillard's mentor, Johnnie Bryant, being an assistant head coach for the Knicks is one thing working in their favor, their failure to sign DeMar DeRozan in free agency is reportedly another strike against them.

According to Berman, Lillard and DeRozan are friends, and his presence could have potentially helped lure Lillard to New York.

Instead, DeRozan signed with the Chicago Bulls and was named an All-Star in the midst of a career season that has seen him average 27.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

For now, all signs point toward Lillard sticking around in Portland and seeing what the front office can put around him.

The Blazers have a good starting point with a six-time All-Star in Lillard leading the way and another rising backcourt star in Anfernee Simons, but there is a lot of work to be done with very little star power across the rest of their roster.

Some New York Knicks fans might have been underwhelmed by the team's lack of business right up until the NBA trade deadline. But a quiet deadline day was music to the ears of veteran swingman Evan Fournier.

"Obviously, to know we’re going to finish this season with this group, there’s a relief, for sure," Fournier told reporters following a 116-114 victory over the Golden State Warriors. "I’m not going to lie."

The Knicks are 12th in the Eastern Conference at 25-31, and prior to Thursday's victory, they had dropped 10 of their previous 12 games.

With the team failing to match last year's 41-win pace, many wondered whether the front office would look to reshuffle the roster.

The Athletic's Fred Katz reported on Tuesday that Fournier and Kemba Walker were "readily available in trade talks," as was Alec Burks. SNY's Ian Begley reported that "several teams had expressed a degree of interest" in Julius Randle, too.

But not only has New York failed to meaningfully improve the roster, Begley also explained how a logjam remains to get Cam Reddish on the floor. Reddish, for whom the Knicks gave up a 2022 first-round pick and Kevin Knox, still only played 20 minutes on Thursday, a number that's below the 23.4 minutes per game he was averaging this year with the Atlanta Hawks.

In general, it's fair to wonder how much the constant speculation around the Knicks roster may have impacted the players themselves. Especially in the case of Fournier, Walker and Randle, it can't be easy stepping on to the court wondering whether you'll be out the door and how your performance in a given game might impact your future.

Just as teams that added pieces tend to get a bump after the deadline, having a better feeling of stability might actually boost the Knicks a bit over the next few days or more.

However, the same issues that have hampered Tom Thibodeau's squad all season will inevitably come to the fore sooner or later.

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly considered trading for several players ahead of Thursday's 3 p.m. ET deadline, including former Boston Celtics guard Dennis Schroder and New York Knicks forward Cam Reddish, according to The Athletic's Bill Oram. 

A three-team deal for Reddish, which also would have included Raptors center Khem Birch, reportedly fell through because New York and Toronto couldn't agree on draft compensation. 

A deal for Schroder, who played in L.A. last season, wasn't reached because "there was some pushback from some in the organization" about a reunion with the veteran guard, Oram notes. However, Boston's asking price for Schroder was reportedly the bigger factor in preventing a deal.

Oram wrote:

The Lakers were at a disadvantage as teams around the league saw them operating out of desperation, and wanted to force Rob Pelinka, the vice president of basketball operations, to take on bad contracts or spend what little draft capital the Lakers had left, including the 2027 first round pick, to facilitate any deals.

The Celtics reportedly traded Schroder, Bruno Fernando and Enes Freedom to the Houston Rockets for Daniel Theis, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

Reddish, who was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Knicks in January, remained in New York. 

Reddish's fit with the Knicks is still unclear. Since being acquired by the franchise, he has failed to carve out a role in Tom Thibodeau's rotation, having played just five games. 

He is averaging 4.0 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 25 percent from the floor in 10.0 minutes per game for the Knicks. He might have been in for a more significant role in L.A. but wouldn't have provided the type of spacing the team needs alongside LeBron James.

Schroder, meanwhile, is averaging 14.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from deep in 49 games. He would have been a solid addition for the Lakers, considering Russell Westbrook's struggles. 

Last season for L.A., Schroder averaged 15.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists while shooting 43.7 percent from the floor and 33.5 percent from deep in 61 games. He also averaged a career-high 32.1 minutes per night for the Purple and Gold.

However, it's unlikely a deal for Reddish or Schroder would have helped the franchise turn things around. 

The Lakers entered the 2021-22 campaign with high expectations after making numerous roster changes, including trading for Westbrook, but it sits ninth in the Western Conference with a 26-30 record.

Some of that inconsistency has to do with the fact that both LeBron James and Anthony Davis, among others, have missed time because of injury. However, a large part of it has been Westbrook's poor roster fit.

Given the albatross Westbrook's contract has become and L.A.'s lack of draft capital, it isn't surprising the Lakers stood pat.

Despite their recent struggles, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks did not make any trades before Thursday's NBA trade deadline.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers plan on exploring the buyout market following the deadline.

Marc Berman of the New York Post added that the Knicks have one roster spot remaining and "can be a player" in the buyout market as well.

Despite having won a championship two years ago and being anchored by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers are a disappointing 26-30 this season and stuck in ninth place in the Western Conference.

Some of the Lakers' issues can be attributed to James and AD missing significant time due to injury, but they haven't really found their stride with both players healthy in recent games either.

L.A. has lost two games in a row and six of its past eight, including an embarrassing 107-105 loss Wednesday to a Portland Trail Blazers team that traded CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington, and was without Damian Lillard due to injury.

While the Lakers conceivably would have liked to have improved on the trade market, they didn't have many enticing pieces to offer.

The only player on their roster besides James or Davis who is guaranteed to be under contract next season is Talen Horton-Tucker, who has struggled this season.

The Lakers would seemingly like to move on from Russell Westbrook as well amid his inefficiency and turnover issues, but no team would be willing to take on his $44 million salary and $47 million player option for next season.

While the Lakers are perhaps the biggest disappointment in the NBA since they have championship aspirations, the Knicks may not be too far behind.

New York was one of the league's most pleasant surprises last season, reaching the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it has been a different story this season.

At 24-31, the Knicks are 12th in the East and wouldn't even be part of the postseason play-in tournament if the season ended today.

While RJ Barrett is a promising offensive player with star potential, Julius Randle has taken a big step back from his breakout 2020-21 season, and veterans like Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier and Alec Burks haven't performed to the level most expected.

Also, the Knicks acquired Cam Reddish from the Atlanta Hawks for Kevin Knox and a first-round pick, but it has been a disastrous move, as Reddish has barely been part of the rotation, averaging 10.0 minutes per game in five appearances.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported early Thursday morning that the Lakers, Knicks and Toronto Raptors had discussed a three-team trade that would have sent Reddish and Burks from the Knicks to the Lakers, Goran Dragic and draft picks from the Raptors to the Knicks, and Horton-Tucker and Nerlens Noel from the Lakers and Knicks, respectively, to the Raptors.

Neither the Lakers nor the Knicks ended up getting anything done, but based on the amount of movement there was at the deadline, there should be plenty of useful players bought out and available without having to give up assets.