The New York Knicks have traded center Jericho Sims as part of the Khris Middleton-Kyle Kuzma trade, acquiring Milwaukee Bucks guard Delon Wright and cash in return.
The Knicks also received the draft rights to Hugo Besson, while the Bucks received the rights to Mathias Lessort.
The Knicks’ only move of the 2025 NBA trade deadline marks the end of Jericho Sims’s time in New York after three and a half seasons with the team.
Drafted No. 58 overall in the 2021 NBA draft out of the University of Texas, the Longhorn product had seldom seen playing time during his tenure with the Knicks due to a failure to establish a real role on the court.
His biggest shot at earning consistent playing time came this season while the more reliable Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa were still sidelined due to injury. Instead, Sims has registered a career-low in minutes played per game.
Now, with Achiuwa back in the lineup since early December and Robinson’s return to action appearing imminent, Sims’s role on the team would have been relegated to essentially nothing.
Leon Rose opted to at least get something in return for the incoming free agent who has no visible future with the team.
While the return package of a 32-year-old Delon Wright and cash is marginal at best for New York, it now leaves no questions in the big man pecking order and will open up any found minutes for rookie Ariel Hukporti, who has been carving out a name for himself amongst Knicks fans in very limited minutes this season.
Wright, a career journeyman who has struggled to earn minutes for the Bucks this season, could now potentially win over Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau and earn a spot near the end of New York’s rotation.
