The New York Knicks, with a stern mandate to win now, is once again cooking up a recipe for disaster. To acquire the best point guard on the trading block now, they will mortgage their future--the very distant future.

The Toronto Raptors are holding their fire sale, triggered by the Rudy Gay trade. Their top veteran players are up for grabs and they are looking for expiring contracts and early first round draft picks.

Knicks, Nets & Warriors all interested in Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry.

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) December 12, 2013

The Knicks will offer their own injured point guard, Raymond Felton, the injured Metta World Peace and their first round pick for Kyle Lowry.

Hold on! The Knicks first round pick belongs to the Denver Nuggets as part of the Carmelo Anthony trade (see how that worked out). As a new NBA rule, they are not allowed to trade consecutive first round picks, so they need to keep their 2015 first round pick. They have also traded their 2016 first round pick to Toronto in the Andrea Bargnani trade (and the Nuggets still have the option to swap from the Melo deal). Because of that, they have to keep their 2017 first round pick.
Thus, the first round pick involved is the 2018 first round.

Incidentally, the three teams mentioned do not have 2014 first round picks. The Nets initially gave the Atlanta Hawks the option to exchange first round picks. At the current standing, the Nets are in the lottery and the Hawks are in the playoffs. Thus, the Hawks will swap picks.

What about the Hawks own pick? The Nets have traded that to the Boston Celtics as part of the Garnett-Pierce trade.

The Warriors have surrendered their first round pick to the Utah Jazz, as part of the three team deal that included the sign-and-trade for Andre Iguodala. The Jazz took their expiring contracts (Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins) so the Warriors can free cap space for Iggy.

Yahoo reported that the Nets are not willing to give up their first round(in 2020!) and their only offer is Bojan Bogdanovic, a draft pick they stashed in Europe.

Thus, the deal could fall for the Knicks. They need to wait until Sunday, December 15, since World Peace is a new signee.

A lot can still happen in three days. Check back later for updates.