Getty Kevin Knox II during a January 11 game against the Charlotte Hornets.
Following their first playoff berth in over eight years, the New York Knicks are hoping to ride the momentum of a winning season into the summer and free agency.
What that means for some of the younger members of the roster is unclear.
Last year’s eighth overall pick Obi Toppin was buried on the bench behind the rise of Julius Randle, who in his seventh career season went from role player to All-NBA and All-Star forward.
22-year old Frank Ntilikina, the eighth overall pick from the 2017 NBA Draft, is headed for restricted free agency, and there’s little faith that he’ll return to the Knicks on a new deal.
Then there’s 21-year old Kevin Knox, who is entering the last year of his rookie deal after being drafted by New York with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
His future remains with the team remains unclear, but he’s already back at work, only a month removed from the season.
A video surfaced earlier this week of the former Kentucky product working through handling and shooting drills.
Knox averaged just 3.9 points and 1.5 rebounds per game this year.
Knox Started the Season Strong
The aforementioned numbers won’t do the start to his season justice.
Kevin Knox was a contributor to the New York Knicks’ exciting 5-7 start through the season’s first 12 games.
He averaged 8.3 points on 41% shooting from the three-point line in that span.
But then, slowly yet surely, he fell out of head coach Tom Thibodeau’s rotation.
The longtime head coach called Knox, as well as Ntilikina, “situational” ahead of the Knicks’ 23rd game of the season, and neither went on to play significant roles.
Knox made one appearance in New York’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, connecting on a garbage-time bucket in their Game Four loss.
It may prove his last game in a New York Knicks uniform.
Multiple Outlets Are Suggesting a Knox Trade
The New York Knicks might be more likely to retain Kevin Knox if not for his $5.8-million salary.
That’s good for the third-highest on the team, behind Julius Randle and RJ Barrett.
Ahead of an offseason where they’re hoping to land a top talent like Chris Paul or Kyle Lowry, expect Leon Rose and the front office to explore all potential avenues to opening up even more cap space.
Salary dumping an expiring contract like Knox’s shouldn’t be too tall a task for the Knicks who have multiple second-round picks for teams to choose from in exchange for taking on the third-year forward.
A number of outlets have already proposed such deals in recent weeks.
Brian Robb of Mass Live suggested New York send him to the Boston Celtics, who have yet to completely fill the trade exception from the Gordon Hayward trade:
Another buy-low option after failing to break his way into Tom Thibodeau’s rotation in New York last season. At age 21, there is untapped potential here but the case can be made that the Celtics already have too much youth on their roster already.
And Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale wrote up a trade proposal just last week, where the Knicks would send Knox and the 32nd overall pick to the Houston Rockets for Avery Bradley and Danuel House:
Rolling the dice on Knox is worth two expiring contracts on wings who don’t factor into the long-term outlook. Knox will be just 22 in August, hit 39.3 percent of his triples last season and has the size at 6’7″ to play the 2, 3 or 4.
It seems unlikely that Kevin Knox’s latest workout tape will do much (if anything) to alter his uncertain future with the New York Knicks.
But above all else, once he’s gone, no one will ever be able to bash his work ethic.
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