Much like Dejounte Murray, Malcolm Brogdon could be an addition the New York Knicks decide to pursue ahead of the 2024 NBA trade deadline.
Despite winning the 2016-17 Rookie of the Year award and the 2022-23 Sixth Man of the Year award, Brogdon has never received the acclaim he deserves. At 6’4”, he’s a pretty big lead guard, an excellent three-point shooter and a willing passer who averaged a career-high 7.1 assists per game in 2019-20 with the Indiana Pacers.
Why hasn’t Malcolm Brogdon stuck?
Despite his talent, Malcolm Brogdon has weirdly bounced around. The Milwaukee Bucks selected him in the second round in 2016, but he was involved in a sign-and-trade in the summer of 2019, mostly because they felt the offer sheet he signed with Indiana was simply too much to enable them to continue building a contender.
In 2022, the Pacers decided to swap Domantas Sabonis for Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton was clearly the team’s point guard of the future. Not surprisingly, Brogdon was traded to the Boston Celtics a few months later.
Brogdon excelled in the role of sixth-man role in Boston, which certainly bolstered the Celtics' bench. But his tenure in Boston wasn’t long-lived, as he was traded to Portland as part of a larger deal for Jrue Holiday.
Ultimately, Brogdon is a good player who has had the misfortune of playing for teams that were able to upgrade the lead guard position — at his expense. Injuries have also played a factor, as he has never played more than the 75 games he did in his rookie season. In fact, that's the only season in which he hit the 70-game mark.
What has Brogdon done in his career?
But don’t be fooled by the various trades in which he has been involved. Brogdon is still more than capable of playing starting-caliber basketball. That’s not even the role he’d be asked to play on the Knicks.
So, what does Brogdon bring to the table? He’s a career 39% three-point shooter. He’s a capable floor general who has averaged 5.7 assists per 36 minutes throughout his entire eight-year career. And he’s an above-average defender.
