The New York Knicks, fresh off their 2026 NBA title triumph, will be heading into the new year without a familiar face in their frontcourt. Mitchell Robinson, who had been a staple of the team since he was drafted there in 2018, left this summer to join the Boston Celtics. That leaves NY with their frontcourt options being Karl-Anthony Towns and offseason signee Andre Drummond. James Wiseman and Drew Eubanks join them on Exhibit 9 contracts to potentially join the main roster squad come season opening tip-off, but nevertheless, it’s clear that finding additional center insurance will be a key point of concern during the season.
One name floated around last season as a potential upside center on the move was Pelicans center Yves Missi. Near the trade deadline and even some returning buzz this summer, Missi appeared to be one of the Raptors’ top options if they were looking to upgrade their center position on the market. Not to mention, he already has a nice connection on this Raptors squad, having been teammates with rising swingman Ja’Kobe Walter at Baylor.
In his two NBA seasons so far, Missi has averaged 7.5 points along with 7.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 blocks. Solid numbers, for sure. I was all in on the idea of Missi as a bull-strong, athletic, defensive-minded, high-energy option for Toronto — until we got some unfortunate news about those potential plans. Just as rumors started swirling that Missi possibly hit the market, new reports came out indicating the Pelicans showed little interest in moving the young big.
On top of that, it became clear that the Knicks were also eyeing Missi for themselves, giving the Raptors some serious name-value competition there. And rumor has it, the Knicks might still be in the running for a shot at Yves Missi.
On a recent episode of the Third Apron Podcast, host Yossi Gozlan discussed this with Jake Madison of Locked On Pelicans, mentioning that Missi still stands out as someone the Knicks could be eyeing — alongside young Hornets big Moussa Diabate.
Madison was quick to point out that Missi, a third-year player on a cheap, rookie contract, is very unlikely to be moved if the Knicks’ best offer is just one or two second-round picks. Now, I don’t think anyone’s really viewing Missi as some unattainable asset — after all, as the two gentlemen mentioned, anyone can be moved as long as the price is right. But unless the Knicks can pull off a complicated pick swap or boldly gamble their only tradable first-rounder (in 2033), it looks like acquiring Missi will be trickier than expected. Plus, there's a key future question that’ll come up in an extension — something the team trading for him would have to worry about.
Missi is an attractive trade target, but don't expect anyone to add him so effortlessly
Well, for the Raptors, this doesn’t exactly paint the brightest picture of their own path to add Missi. After their Kawhi Leonard trade, the Raptors' finances are only set to get tighter, and they’d need to either match or take back less money in future deals. Right now, they don’t even have any real movable contracts close to Missi’s modest $3.5 million salary. They could work something out by moving one of their bigger salaries, like RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley or Jakob Poeltl, and try to get Yves Missi that way as a throw-in. But that gets complicated again — both in terms of what they’d need to give up and how flexible Toronto can work with a Missi extension.
Here’s the silver lining I’m getting at: if the Knicks can’t find a way to add Missi, that’s actually good news for the Raptors, even if their own path to get him looks bleak too. Arguably their biggest rival (I mean, they’re the defending champs for a reason) wouldn’t be able to upgrade their frontcourt with a young, still promising player like Missi. Imagine if NY could pull it off so seamlessly, and we're left to wonder what could’ve been if Missi had landed in Toronto instead. I’d much rather see him stay in New Orleans than help an already tough opponent in this conference, making the Raptors’ frontcourt issues even more glaring.
That said, it might still be too early to tell. But with these recent insights, I’d say the coast is pretty clear… for now.
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