I could see the Knicks liking Derozan for a few reasons but like others said there are definitely some real drawbacks.
Pros would be:
He has maintained an above average level of efficiency throughout his 30's. Something the Knicks have lacked even through the success of the past 2 years. Despite being one of the better offenses in the league the Knicks have been bottom 10 in true shooting percentage the past 2 seasons.
He has real playoff experience with Toronto.
Has historically been one of the best 4th quarter scorers in the league. For a team that is heavily reliant on one guy in the 4th, this would be a nice alternative option to have on nights Brunson can't put the cape on.
He's been extremely durable even in his advanced age. He's never had a season below 60 games in his career and his last 3 seasons have all been over 70 games with a heavy minutes load. If the Knicks plan on using him as a 6th man which I assume is a possibility then you can assume he'll be able to play an entire season with relative ease given that minute load and he's a guy you can feel good about spot starting in case of other injuries...
Knicks have won a lot of games by winning the possession battle. While Derozan doesn't get a ton of rebounds he helps you win the possession battle by not turning the ball over and having a high amount of assists. To put into context, for guys who have a 25 or higher usage percentage he has the 3rd lowest turnover % from that group. This will allow guys like Hartenstein, Randle, Hart and Mitch Rob (assuming most if not all are back) to pound the glass and get DD some "Kobe assists" that way as well...
Cons:
DD's game is not really a seamless fit offensively with a lot of teams and especially ours. His shot profile is extremely similar to Brunson and Randle. He loves to operate in the mid range area. We saw how having a 3rd scorer who didn't necessarily like to shoot 3's, in RJ, kind of cramped everything up offensively. Now the difference is Derozan is a much steadier and efficient offensive player than RJ is and much more experienced. He's also currently a better passer so the adjustment may be a tad bit easier but, the fit concerns would still remain. How exactly can you get all 3 of these guys on the floor at the same time and humming? Is it even possible?
Defensively Demar is sub par. He's also spent a lot of minutes at the 4 since moving to Chicago. While Randle will need some rest at times, the Knicks would not be bringing DD in just to spell Randle for 12-15 minutes a night...Can the Knicks survive defensively with Demar, Randle and Jalen all getting a ton of minutes? Is the trade off for Demar's offense truly worth it? Those are tough questions for the FO to answer IMO.
While Demar has playoff experience he's also struggled at times. It's always been a weird juxtaposition for me to determine why because he truly is awesome in the 4th quarter of the regular season which is probably the closest mirror to playoff basketball you can find... Just worth noting that if the Knicks are going to give up real assets for Demar you would hope that it would mean a playoff bump for them and quite frankly i'm not sure if you can bank on that given his history...
Ultimately, I don't think Demar should be a priority target given the above but, I wouldn't necessarily rule the move out.... There's a lot of questions with fit but he does provide some things this team lacks. It would come down to price for me and also what you would be taking yourself out of the running of... 2 firsts and Bogey to me is a non starter for a soon to be 35 year old with a questionable fit profile...However, if you get to mid-July and nothing else seems to materialize, then maybe I would pitch Chicago on two seconds or a projected late 1st and a 2nd. That seems more palatable to me even if I have to close my eyes and pinch my nose when I send it in to the league office
RIP mags
