Hard to believe that New York Knicks 2017 first-round pick Frank Ntilikina was only 25 years old when he washed out of the NBA after a season with Charlotte back in 2023-24. Ntilikina is one of the shining examples of the way things went wayward for the Knicks in the Phil Jackson/Steve Mills eras. The Knicks went with Ntilikina at No. 8 over Donovan Mitchell in that 2017 draft, and subsequently picked Kevin Knox ninth over Mikal Bridges (10th) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11th) in 2018. They then landed at No. 3 in 2019, a huge stroke of bad luck because it was a poor draft, and New York got RJ Barrett.
Hard for a franchise to bounce back from having two Top 10 picks and a Top 3 pick and come away with Ntilikina, Knox and Barrett. Such was life for the Knicks just eight years ago.
Ntilikina played four seasons with the Knicks and established himself as an excellent defensive guard whose offense was so poor that it negated his defensive prowess. He played 211 games for New York and averaged 5.5 points with truly abominable shooting: Ntilikina shot 36.6% with the Knicks, and 32.8% from the 3-point line.
Frank Ntilikina Returning to France
Ah, but those days are gone for the Knicks. The good news for Ntilikina, a native of Belgium who came up in the pro ranks playing in France (he is a member of the French national team), is that he’s still got a home in basketball overseas, and found a new contract with Paris Basketball, where he will play next season in a homecoming.
Since leaving Knicks, Ntilikina first played two seasons in Dallas with the Mavericks, but struggled, and played a half-season with the Hornets before going back to Europe. He spent the last two seasons playing for Olympiacos in Greece, and had been with Partizan in Serbia before that.
Ntilikina has not played professionally in France since he was with Strasbourg in 2017. He will join former NBA scorer TJ Warren with Paris.
Knicks Hunting for a Big Man
As for the Knicks, their current roster remains incomplete, and the fate of their two picks from this year’s draft–second-rounders Tyler Nickel and Jack Kayil–is still unknown. The Knicks have no two-way spots filled yet, and both Nickel and Kayil could have other options to pursue rather than take end-of-the-bench deals in New York. Kayil could return to Europe for a year. Nickel is eligible to play in college again.
But neither is critical to the upcoming season. Finding a third center to go with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond is. The Knicks have struck out on multiple attempts to add a third big man.
Writes SNY’s Ian Begley: “As you’d imagine, the Knicks have also been in touch with free agent centers who would fit the third-center profile. If they liked any of those centers enough to offer them a guaranteed contract, they probably would have done so already. So the most likely route here is to sign a couple of veteran bigs to training camp deals and let them compete for the third center spot. They would be able to add that veteran center and remain under the second apron in team salary.”
Knicks Former Top 10 Picks Lands New Contract