The Mavericks’ strong rebound season will finally give the Knicks the last asset they acquired in the 2019 trade for Kristaps Porzingis.
Dallas clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday night. This means a top-10 protected first-round pick will go to the Knicks in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The Mavericks struggled late in last year’s regular season, failing to qualify for the play-in in the Western Conference and finishing 10th overall.
They ultimately traded down to the Thunder at that position and ultimately signed center Derek Lively from Duke University. If this year’s pick didn’t go through, the Knicks would have taken a second-round pick in 2025.
The Celtics have already clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and are missing Jayson Tatum (knee), Jaylen Brown (hand), Jrue Holiday (patella), Al Horford (toe) and Porzingis (hamstring). ), which lists Xavier Tillman. (Knee) Questionable for Thursday’s game against the Knicks in Boston.
Horford and Porzingis missed Tuesday’s loss to the Bucks.
Julius Randle underwent “successful” season-ending surgery on his dislocated right shoulder Tuesday, officials said.
The Knicks announced last week that he would be reevaluated in five months.
Precious Achiuwa was left out of Tom Thibodeau’s playing rotation for Tuesday night’s road game against the Bulls.
Amid a rash of injuries on the front line, the Bronx native averaged 24.9 minutes in the first 46 games after being traded to the Raptors in late December.
However, recently returned center fielder Mitchell Robinson logged 20 minutes off the bench in Chicago, leading Thibodeau to use an eight-man rotation that did not include Achiuwa for the first time since the trade.
“just [the Bulls] It’s small,” Thibodeau said. “I think I was originally scheduled to play against him, but [Bulls center Andre] Drummond was injured. They played against Drummond; [Nikola] Same with Vucevic. It was more of a matchup issue. ”
Veteran guard Alec Burks also did not come off the bench for Tuesday’s game, having sat on the bench for the second straight game.
Donte DiVincenzo has played in 24 games since the All-Star break and leads the NBA in 3-pointers made (4.5) and attempts per game (11.7).
As of Wednesday, only Stephen Curry (345) and Luka Doncic (280) have made DiVincenzo’s team-record 273 3-pointers.
