Knicks trade Jericho Sims to Bucks for Delon Wright

The Jericho Sims sweepstakes ended Wednesday night.

Throughout this week’s NBA trade saga, everyone from fans to executives to media members has been excessively refreshing their feeds over. The lengthy trade saga that has dominated trade season finally reached its conclusion on Wednesday night:

Wait, you thought I meant Jimmy Butler? No, silly, it’s Jericho Sims.

On a chaotic Wednesday that saw Kyle Kuzma to the Bucks, Khris Middleton to the Wizards, Jonas Valanciunas to the Kings, Jimmy Butler to the Warriors, and Brandon Ingram to the Raptors, we get to blog about Jericho Sims for Delon Wright!

The full trade is as follows:

NYK Receives: G Delon Wright, draft rights to Hugo Besson, and cash considerations

MIL Receives: C Jericho Sims, draft rights to Mathias Lessort

This trade will technically be part of the larger Middleton-for-Kuzma deal earlier today, per Shams. The official reason is unclear, but the Bucks are not allowed to take more salary than they receive as a first apron team. Jericho Sims has a larger cap hit than Delon Wright by $4,000. Including the pair satisfies the CBA.

Sims spent 3.5 seasons with the Knicks, giving them really underrated value for a 58th overall pick. In 177 career games, he averaged 2.4 points and 3.9 rebounds on 71.8% shooting in 13.4 MPG. He recorded three double-doubles, having his moments as the next man up. His best game as a Knick was probably April 6, 2022, when he had 10 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 assists against the Nets.

Sims was most known for his high-flying ability. The former Texas Longhorn often almost hit his head on the backboard and was a human highlight reel when someone threw him a lob. That bounce got him into the Slam Dunk Contest in 2023, but he underwhelmed.

Sims would be a spot starter 37 times throughout his Knicks tenure, most recently to keep Precious Achiuwa with the bench unit when KAT missed a couple games. After starting as the backup center due to injuries, Sims would fall out of the rotation after Achiuwa’s return. When OG Anunoby hurt his foot and opened a rotation spot, Sims was bypassed for rookie Ariel Hukporti. With Mitchell Robinson due to return this month, the 26-year-old seemed out of place with free agency looming.

We wish Jericho the best in Milwaukee. Here’s him dunking on his newest teammate:

If you look up journeyman in the dictionary, three names will pop up. Josh Johnson of the NFL, Octavio Dotel of the MLB, and Ish Smith of the NBA. They’ve all played for an unbelievable amount of franchises.

Delon Wright, assuming he dons the orange and blue, will be playing for his tenth franchise.

The 6’5” guard was drafted 20th overall by the Raptors in 2015 out of Utah. He would play a solid bench role with the Raptors over 3.5 seasons before being traded at the 2019 deadline to Memphis in the Marc Gasol trade (yes, that means he missed out on a ring). He actually balled out for Memphis down the stretch that year, posting a 26-14-10 triple-double in April:

He would bounce around from Dallas to Detroit and Sacramento through 2021, head to Atlanta (where he really hated the Knicks) and Washington, before going to Miami at last year’s deadline, and spending the first half of this season with the Bucks.

He enters New York with career averages of 6.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game on 45/35/81 splits. He’s only played 26 games (2 starts) for the Bucks this season, shooting a paltry 26% from the field.

He may only be 6’5”, but he boasts a 6’7.5” wingspan and he brings one element that could really help the Knicks: defense.

This article from The Athletic also put it very well. This guy is a dawg (D-A-W-G). Imagine this guy in a lineup with McBride, Bridges, Anunoby, and Robinson. The other team would be wise to just take a shot clock violation than to even try to score a basket.

However, his fit is questionable. While he could supplant Landry Shamet in the rotation, both are similar profiles as guys who cannot buy a bucket but can defend. Wright seems to be the superior defender, but the upgrade seems minimal.

Further, this trade saves the Knicks just $4,000, which still puts their timeline for a buyout player at March 1st. The hope was, with a Sims trade, to either get a rotation player or free up space for the buyout market. This may not have accomplished either.

However, two options are still on the table, theoretically. Wright could agree to a buyout that frees enough money for the Knicks to go shopping ASAP, however this seems unlikely to occur. A more likely option is that Wright could be flipped in a 1-for-1 or 1-for-pick deal, as allowed in the CBA. Neither could happen, but the Knicks still have options. It is worth noting that Stefan Bondy is reporting that the Knicks plan to keep Wright for now:

As for the little stuff, the EuroStashes being swapped do not matter. For those curious, Hugo Besson is a former 58th overall pick (like Jericho and Hukporti) and guard who is playing for Manisa BB in Turkey, averaging 17.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on 49/38/83 splits in fifteen games. The 23-year-old, like most EuroStashes, is unlikely to come over and be an NBA player anytime soon, but here’s some highlights:

For those wondering why this even happened, it is because Brock Aller is a goddamn sicko.

Also, the cash considerations mean nothing, per James Edwards of The Athletic: