DETROIT (AP) — The New York Knicks picked up some needed scoring punch Thursday, acquiring Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic from the Detroit Pistons.
The Knicks sent Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and two second-round picks to the Pistons in the deal before the NBA’s trade deadline.
The Knicks are playing without their entire starting frontcourt of All-Star Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson because of injuries, and have been seeking to replace some of the bench scoring they lost when they dealt Immanuel Quickley to Toronto along with RJ Barrett in the deal for Anunoby in December.
They found it in Burks, who played well in a previous stint for the Knicks, and Bogdanovic, a reliable outside shooter.
“He is an elite scorer who has solidified himself as one of the best shooters in the NBA, which will complement our team,” Knicks president Leon Rose said of Bogdanovic in a statement. “Alec played an integral role throughout our 2020-21 playoff season, understands and embraces the culture here and will bring a lot of value to our group.”
Burks has scored 12.7 points per game in 1 1/2 seasons with the Pistons, slightly above the 12.1 he averaged in two seasons with the Knicks. He scored 25 points Tuesday in Detroit’s surprising victory in Sacramento.
Bogdanovic is averaging 20.2 points and shooting 41.5% from 3-point range.
The Knicks are 16-3 since Anunoby joined the starting lineup Jan. 1 and the latest trade could give them enough to break free of a three-way logjam with Cleveland and Milwaukee for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference behind Boston.
The Pistons, who have the worst record in the league, were busy ahead of the trade deadline. They got former Knicks starters in the deal, with Grimes — also currently injured — a reliable contributor off the bench but Fournier having fallen out of the rotation entirely.
The Pistons also acquired forward Simone Fontecchio from the Utah Jazz in exchange for Kevin Knox II, the rights to Gabriele Procida and draft considerations, and requested waivers for 2020 first-round pick Killian Hayes.
Detroit drafted Hayes with the No. 7 pick overall four years ago and the French-American guard didn’t pan out for the long-suffering franchise, averaging 8.1 points despite averaging more than 26 minutes a game over his career.
The 6-foot-5 Hayes averaged career highs last season with 10.1 points and 6.2 assists per game. He recently fell out of the playing rotation behind second-year guard Jaden Ivey and first-round pick Marcus Sasser.
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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this report.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
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