As a former agent, Leon should have known that he had zero chance of retaining him.

This is a possibility, and, if true, makes him look very bad, to say the least.

My problem is, and has always been, that Leon needed to be patient because shit happens, and he wasn’t. Leon was so dead set on building a contender for 2024-25 that he went all in on a sub-par hand. No “top shelf” executive would have made either of the Bridges or KAT moves. The Mikal move was insanely unforgivable because of how bereft of picks it left the Knicks. The KAT move at least preserved some theoretical value compared to what was given up for him, but thinking that he might be a winning “max’ player was foolish. But at least we could recover some of the value given up in the KAT trade. Seriously, what would Mikal bring back right now?

Agreed. Patience is wisdom and they didn’t have it. They were probably afraid that no superstar would become available “anytime soon,” and the Brunson window would be wasted. So they opted for mediocrity instead of taking the chance and waiting.

It was not merely speculated. There were sourced insiders who stated that Presti coveted iHart and would make a tough 9if not impossible) to match offer for him because Presti felt that he was a perfect fit for what they needed. Many here were terrified that iHart would be made an offer he couldn’t refuse, and that’s exactly what happened. And my guess is that Presti would have caved if iHart demanded more than he signed for. As a former agent, Leon should have known that he had zero chance of retaining him.

Plus, the problem is not only i-Hart. The speculation that summer was that no superstar would become available “anytime soon,” I remember that very clearly, but nobody knows what the future will bring. Had they waited a few months, they’d have brought in Giannis.

And as I have said many times, even with the draft follies and other dumb stuff Leon did up until the summer of 2024, there were ways to build a sustainable contender around him. And Leon decided it would be a good idea to go all in on Mikal Bridges, and to consider KAT the final piece of the puzzle.

Exactly! We also need to know when they knew I-Hart was leaving and what the situation with Randle was in order to have a clearer picture about why those bad trades were made.

A charitable interpretation is that Rose was caught by surprise and panicked. He signed Bridges, then suddenly I-Hart left, the team was left without a center, Randle wanted a max extension, so Leon Rose pivoted to KAT. I am not justifying him: he should have known I-Hart might leave and planned accordingly, and should have never given up those picks for Bridges.

A non-charitable interpretation is that Leon Rose knew and planned for what took place all along which is even worse.