Getty Frank Ntilikina, Knicks
Point guard Frank Ntilikina has been moved to the New York Knicks’ bench for the past two games, a role change that could be permanent—unless, that is, Ntilikina can be moved ahead of the February 7 trade deadline.
New York has been looking to trade Ntilikina going back to last spring and is now again looking for a new home for him, according to league sources. New interim coach Mike Miller, who took over when David Fizdale was fired, has made Elfrid Payton the starter.
Still, Ntilikina downplayed the move before the team’s game on Monday.
“I’m comfortable,” Ntilikina told reporters. “It’s just a role change. When I’m on the court, I know it’s my job. I got to do my job and bring everything I can to the team.”
That team might not be the Knicks much longer.
As always with Ntilikina, the first team that comes up as a trade possibility is the Mavericks, who were interested in picking him with the No. 9 pick in 2017. The Knicks took Ntilikina instead and Dallas wound up with Dennis Smith Jr., who they’d thought would be off the board.
Coincidentally, Smith is also in New York now, going to the Knicks as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade.
The Mavs do need point guard depth and would not need to offer much to bring in Ntilikina, since they could absorb his $4.9 million salary into the trade exception the team still has from last year’s Harrison Barnes trade. The Mavs have Golden State’s second-round pick this year, but they likely wouldn’t part with that for Ntilikina.
They also have Utah’s second-rounder and would be more willing to send that to the Knicks.
That, of course, depends on whether the Mavs still have interest in Ntilikina. The team didn’t want to absorb his salary for a second-rounder last year and might not want to do so now, as the team is trying to address other roster issues and build a contender. Developing Ntilikina might be more of a project than Dallas wants to take on.
Orlando, which has two second-rounders in 2020 (its own and the Lakers’) is another team potentially willing to take a flier on Ntilikina, though the Magic have three point guards on the roster. Likewise the Kings, who have seven second-round picks in the next two drafts and could develop a backup for De’Aaron Fox.
Frank Ntilikina is Still Only 21 Years Old
Ntilikina has not shown much progress in three seasons in the NBA. He is averaging 5.8 points and 2.9 assists this season, which has pretty much been his output in his first two seasons.
Ntilikina was only 18 when he was drafted by former Knicks president Phil Jackson, and Jackson was dismissed by the team days later. That left Ntilikina’s development in the hands of a front office and three coaches who had little investment in him.
For teams interested in trading Ntilikina, that’s part of the calculus. Is Ntilikina a bust, pure and simple? Or is his poor performance in the NBA a failure of development?
Ntilikina is only 21 and entered the league as a long-armed prospect who had good defensive instincts and the potential to develop into a 3-and-D point man along the lines of Patrick Beverley. He is a good defensive player but his offense has never come along.
He has improved as a 3-point shooter but is still only at 33.3 percent this year. That’s up from 28.7 percent last year. He does not get many looks from the corners, but he has been excellent on those attempts in a small sample size, going 7-for-14 according to NBA Stats.
He has made strides as a midrange shooter, too, up to 43.6 percent this season. But Ntilikina is still a poor finisher at the rim, making only 48.4 percent of his shots in the restricted area, according to NBA Stats, among the worst in the league for starting guards.
That’s not going to be enough to entice a team to offer a decent package in return for Ntilikina. But as the Knicks rebuild, they’ll need to collect assets that can grow with the team in the future and it does not appear that Ntilikina will be part of that future. Better to cash in while he has some value, however limited.
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