This past offseason, the New York Knicks found themselves fully immersed within the trade rumor mill, with the most high-profile storyline being their highly public pursuits of guard, Donovan Mitchell.
Now, while their interest in the perennial All-Star was certainly real, some of the other trade-buzz the team was found attached to has slowly but surely proven itself to be a farce, and, just recently, one more summer rumbling finds itself inching closer to this latter label.
Back on September 1 an article penned by the New York Post’s Marc Berman surfaced stating that former lottery pick Cam Reddish “wants a change of scenery from New York,” according to his sources.
Less than a month later on the second day of Knicks training camp, the fourth-year forward publicly addressed these offseason rumors, stating in a sit-down with the media that he was just as surprised as many fans were to have read such reports.
“I was in the weight room working out, lifting. It was my birthday,” Reddish said. “I open up Instagram and I had, like, 50 comments and I’m like, what did I do? So I open it up and it’s like ‘yea you requested a trade, you requested a trade.’ I’m like, I didn’t do that. I’m just lifting weights. I don’t know where that came from. Now I gotta deal with that? It’s not fair.”
Cam Reddish tells the story of how he found out about media reports suggesting he had requested a trade:
Reddish would continue on with the topic in high spirits, stating that “it’s all good” and that he never requested a trade.
MSG Analyst Has Eyes on Reddish
In a Facebook post from September 20, Alan Hahn discussed how Reddish is a player that he’s “going to watch more closely than any other” during the upcoming 2022-23 season, citing his impressive physical tools and the fact that he’s entering a contract year as the main reasons why.
“He’s 23 years old now. He’s in the last season of his rookie deal, which means he’s literally playing for his future. If there’s ever a time for him to show up in the best shape of his life, in the best mindset and determined to take jobs and command playing time, it would be now,” Hahn wrote.
“Ask any scout and they’ll tell you, Cam is an enigma. All the physical tools to be a prototype wing in today’s game and yet there’s something missing. Something inconsistent.”
In Hahn’s eyes, that inconsistency that he refers to is his lacking work ethic.
A five-star recruit and one of the top prospects coming out of high school, Reddish committed to Duke University for the 2018-19 school year where he posted 13.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He would enter the 2019 NBA Draft where he’d go on to be selected 10th overall by the Hawks.
After two and a half underwhelming seasons with Atlanta, sporting averages of 10.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.1 steals, Reddish was eventually dealt at the 2022 NBA trade deadline to the Knicks where he’d play in just 15 games and post sub-par averages of 6.1 points and 1.4 rebounds before going down for the season with a shoulder injury in early March.
Despite his lackluster production thus far whilst donning orange and blue, the 23-year-old did show some promise in his minimal showings before being shelved, particularly in his final full game of the year on March 7 where he dropped 17 points in 25 minutes against the Clippers.
Because of this, being he believes the fourth-year pro is “literally playing for his future,” Hahn says that this could push the forward to go above and beyond with his efforts on the floor this season, and, in turn, could wind up resulting in a career year for the youngster.
Knicks Guard in Walking Boot
On just the second day of training camp, SNY’s Ian Begley reported in a September 28 tweet that promising sophomore shooting guard Quentin Grimes was spotted on the sidelines at practice wearing a walking boot on his left foot.
In a follow-up report on the situation, Begley would reveal that the ailment is considered “minor” and that his status moving forward is considered “day to day.”
Grimes has quickly become a favorite of the franchise after showing flashes of being a reliable two-way player during his rookie season in 2021-22, posting averages of 17.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and just shy of a block per 100 possessions while converting on 38.1% of his three-point attempts.
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Knicks’ Cam Reddish Opens Up About Trade Rumors: ‘It’s Not Fair’