10:38 pm: De Larrea won’t stick with the Knicks after all. According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), New York agreed to trade the Spanish guard to the Mavericks in exchange for the No. 30 pick and two second-round selections. The Knicks subsequently flipped the No. 30 pick to Phoenix, moving out of the first round entirely.
By moving down three times (from No. 24 to 25 to 30 to out of the first round), the Knicks will create cap savings by not adding a rookie scale contract to their books. They’ll acquire five second-rounders and cash in the process.
Meanwhile, the odds of de Larrea making the move stateside for the 2026/27 likely increased, since the Mavericks’ cap situation is more flexible than New York’s, but it’s unclear what Dallas’ plans for him are.
9:58 pm: After trading down one spot from No. 24 to 25, the Knicks have drafted Sergio de Larrea. The Lakers officially made the pick on behalf of New York, as the deal will be formally finalized later.
De Larrea, 20, is a point guard with good positional size at 6’5″. The Spaniard has spent his career to this point playing in his home country for Valencia. He has taken on a regular role for the club over the past two seasons, averaging 9.7 points, 3.7 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game across 28 domestic contests in 2025/26. Valencia is currently competing in the Liga ACB finals.
In addition to showing some play-making skills with Valencia, de Larrea has also shot the ball well, making 41.2% of his three-pointers in Liga ACB, EuroLeague, and EuroCup play since the start of the 2024/25 season. Initially viewed as a probable second-round pick, he was said last week to be generating interest from teams drafting late in the first round.
De Larrea, at least down the road, could slot in as a change of pace behind Jalen Brunson due to his size and length. However, it certainly generates speculation that the Knicks view him as a draft-and-stash player. The Knicks don’t have a backup point man with that profile — Miles McBride is 6’2” and Jose Alvarado — who holds a player option on his contract — is 6’0”.
According to a recent interview of owner James Dolan, the Knicks want to avoid the second apron. Trading back one spot would provide some minor cost savings, but keeping De Larrea in Europe would give them with even greater flexibility cap-wise. Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron points out (Twitter link) that the Knicks would avoid carrying his $3.2MM salary slot next season in that scenario. That salary is roughly $700K more than the veteran’s minimum and $1.85MM more than the rookie minimum.
