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Do the Knicks Have Enough to Trade for Rudy Fernandez?

The Knicks may be one of the three teams interested in Rudy Fernandez — he’s requested a trade out of Portland, where he’s unhappy as Brandon Roy’s backup — but according to Alan Hahn, the Knicks don’t have what the Trail Blazers want in return. More specifically, Portland wants a first-round pick, but because the Knicks gave their 2012 pick to Houston to clear cap space and rent Tracy McGrady — and because league rules prohibit teams from trading first-rounders in consecutive years — the Knicks couldn’t give up a pick until 2014. (You can read about the pros and cons of Fernandez — and of surrendering a first-round pick to acquire him — here.) Hahn reports that “a source close to Fernandez” says the Knicks are the guard’s preferred destination, and suggests that the Knicks could dangle Wilson Chandler in hopes that a third team gives up the first-round pick they can flip for Fernandez. But he also adds that the Knicks are hesitant to let go of Chandler. In which case, the Knicks are now just one player away from assembling a Big Three of guys who’d reportedly like to be traded here, but won’t necessarily be traded here. [Newsday]

Do the Knicks Have Enough to Trade for Rudy Fernandez?