Bill Simmons rarely shies away from speaking his mind. One of his latest head-turning takeaways involves the New York Knicks. In a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Sports Guy dropped a guarantee that the Knickerbockers will soon have one of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Donovan Mitchell on the roster. 

“They’ll get one of those three guys, I guarantee,” Simmons said in the podcast. “Giannis, Embiid, or Mitchell will be on that team a year from now.”

That seems to be a pipe dream at the moment and just Simmons regurgitating one of the future footnotes of a possible new edition of the Book of Basketball, but what’s undeniable is that he’s got Knicks fans’ attention. 

As a big-market franchise, the Knicks will always be linked to the shiniest names in the league. However, New York seems to have a worse strikeout rate when it comes to converting rumors into actual acquisition of a superstar than the New York Yankees are at the plate in 2023.  Still, Knicks fans can always hope. The lure to play in the Big Apple is one that never wavers.

Joel Embiid is still under contract until at least the end of the 2025-26 season (player option for the 2026-27 campaign), but there are ongoing rumors about the James Harden saga potentially alienating the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player enough for him to send signals to the Philadelphia 76ers front office that he wants to get traded somewhere else.

It’s also not a secret that the Knicks tried to extricate Donovan Mitchell away from Salt Lake City a year ago, but the New York native ultimately got traded by the Utah Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs, however, only have one more guaranteed season of team control of Mitchell beyond the 2023-24 campaign, so unless he signs an extension with them, they might have to start flirting with the idea of trading him down the road, especially if they come up short again this coming NBA calendar year.

Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo seems to be in a similar situation with a player option waiting for him in the 2026 offseason. He’s also subtly applied a bit of pressure on Milwaukee’s management after an embarrassing early exit from the 2023 NBA Playoffs.