Cam-Reddish
The Atlanta Hawks are sending their athletic, second string forward Cameron Reddish along with Solomon Hill and a 2025 second-round draft pick to the New York Knicks in exchange for Kevin Knox and a future first-round pick.
In what was a disappointing tenure filled with inconsistent performance and injury, Cam Reddish’s tenure in Atlanta has finally come to a halt. The Hawks made it clear earlier in the season they had the intention of trading the wing in hopes of getting a first-round pick in return.
The Hawks signed John Collins and Kevin Huerter to larger contract extensions in the 2021 offseason; and with DeAndre Hunter also in due time for a big contract, Reddish was the odd-man out in Atlanta. The Hawks don’t have the cap space for a larger contract Reddish would expect in the coming offseason., so rumors that he was on the trade block practically wrote themselves.
Reddish’s play as of late has been impressive, averaging over 14 points a contest in his last 9 games with the club, despite not scoring in the last two. Reddish was one to never be the most efficient, and has had a very shaky season on defense, but plans to take on a larger offensive role in New York.
The price at which the Hawks were willing to move away from Reddish was surprising to some, considering his level of play recently and the prioritization they took in drafting him just three years ago. Despite a very shaky freshman year at Duke, the Hawks took incentive at taking him 10th overall in the draft with a historically important pick; one they acquired from trading away the rights to Luka Dončić.
On the other end of the trade, the Knicks are shipping off Kevin Knox and a conditional 2022 first-round pick belonging to the Charlotte Hornets. Knox, a former top 10 draft pick himself, was taking up a full-time role on the bench over the last two seasons. The 4th-year wing only made an appearance in 53 games over the last two seasons, averaging just over 10 minutes per game.
Knox’s tenure started out optimistically when he gave Knicks’ fans something to hope for when he had some great performances in summer league his rookie year, but everything since then has only gone downhill. Despite averaging 12.8 points per game his rookie year, he did so on very poor efficiency, and showed little-to-no effort on defense, and hasn’t improved much in either category since.
The writing was on the wall that both sides of the deal were intending on moving on with their main piece, and both intend on moving forward with a new prospect at their disposal. Cam Reddish has the opportunity to flourish his offensive game, while Kevin Knox now has an opportunity to prove himself as more than just a fringe NBA player.
Editorial credit: Getty Images
