The New York Knicks look set in the frontcourt with Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis, and Robin Lopez for the foreseeable future, but they need some help in the backcourt.

Jose Calderon and Arron Afflalo were the starters for the Knicks respectively at point guard and shooting guard in 2015-2016. They combined to average 20.4 points 44.5% shooting from the field, leaving the Knicks to be interested in trading for Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.

From Begley’s article on ESPN:

The New York Knicks are looking to upgrade their backcourt, and one player on their radar is Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose.

The Knicks have had internal discussions recently about trading for Rose, league sources tell ESPN.

It is unknown how aggressive the Bulls will be in trading Rose, who will enter the 2016-2017 season in the final year of a five-year $94.3 million signed back in in December of 2011.

Rose hasn’t been able to put together a season in where he appeared in more than 70 games due to various injuries, most notably to his knees since 2010-2011 when he was the NBA’s most valuable player, and averaged 25 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game.

Rose is scheduled to make $21.3 million in 2016-2017, which would’ve made him the 8th highest paid player in the NBA in 2015-2016 behind Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Joe Johnson and Kobe Bryant.

This report by Begley is coming days off of another report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that says the Bulls are “actively open” to dealing Rose instead of guard Jimmy Butler this summer:

Rose is entering the final year of his deal and has commented numerous times on the ballooning salary cap and his next contract, much to the dismay of the Bulls front office and a large number of Bulls fans. Add that to an on-again, off-again intensity and there is a sense that both sides would welcome a change, especially with Rose entering a free agent year.

At this point, it’s unclear which teams (if anyone) has made a real offer for Rose, especially given his $21.3 million salary. But it was said a few times that the name being talked about most among teams and scouts in Italy was not [All-Star Jimmy] Butler, but rather Rose and there is a sense that a team that misses on a starting-caliber point guard in free agency may turn to the Bulls.

Outside of Anthony, Porzingis, and future draft picks, the Knicks don’t have many trade assets that it might take to land a three-time NBA all-star, even despite all the injuries that have happened to Rose during his NBA career.

In 2015-2016, Rose played in 66 of the Bulls 82 games, meaning he played in 80% of the Bulls games this year. He averaged 16.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game.

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