The New York Knicks won in more ways than one on Tuesday night.

Not only did the Knicks earn a major victory over the Chicago Bulls (one that placed them third on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket) but they’re the official owners of two first-round picks in the upcoming NBA Draft by virtue of the Dallas Mavericks’ playoff clinch.

Thus officially closes the book on the 2019 trade between Dallas and New York, one headlined by the Knicks shipping off franchise face Kristaps Porzingis to the Lone Star State. Part of the Knicks’ haul was their regularly scheduled 2023 first-round pick burdened with top 10 protection. Had the Mavericks’ pick reached the top 10, the pick had the potential to transfer in either 2024 or 2025, becoming a second-round choice if it occured in the latter year.

With that clinch, the Mavericks will officially get to skip the NBA Draft Lottery, thus keeping them out of the top 10 later this summer. The pick was a point of contention at this time last season.

Reeling and perhaps seething from losing Jalen Brunson to Manhattan, the Mavericks threw away a shot at the Western Conference Play-In Tournament to avoid giving the Knicks a pick that likely would’ve come outside the top 10. While the gambit worked … Dallas missed the Play-In and eventually traded the 10th pick for 12th choice Dereck Lively … the Mavericks were charged a $750,000 fine for resting healthy players in their final games so as to guarantee elimination.

Neither team exerperienced any monumental change in fortune with Porzingis’ move: the Latvian big man played two-plus seasons in Dallas before was shipped off to Washington and he now resides with the Boston Celtics.

To this day, only one player involved (Tim Hardaway Jr., who went from New York to Dallas) remains with either side and the Knicks’ haul (DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr.) didn’t last long in New York. The Knicks also gained a first-round pick in 2021, which was used on Keon Johnson before it was traded on draft night to acquire the since-departed Quentin Grimes.

Gaining Dallas’ pick only further expands the Knicks’ draft cabinet, which many assume will be used on a high-profile trade for another established superstar. Though extra 2024 first-rounders from lottery-bound Detroit and Washington will not transfer, the Knicks have four first-round choices to work with over the next two years. The Knicks have spent recent drafts as observers, as only three players on the active rosters (Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, Jericho Sims) were originally chosen by the team.