Knicks Player to Watch in NBA Summer League Is Potential Obi Toppin Replacement

Getty New York Knicks star Julius Randle high-fives Obi Toppin during a game against the Boston Celtics.

The New York Knicks will go into the NBA Summer League with little fanfare, unlike the previous years when their fans look forward to their first-round picks’ performances.

There will be no Summer League Kevin Knox, RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley or Quentin Grimes highlights waiting to happen. Heck, there is even no Rokas Jokubaitis mystery to unpack.

What the Knicks have in this year’s Summer League is an intriguing player who is being groomed to replace Toppin’s spot as Julius Randle’s backup.

All eyes will be on Isaiah Roby.

The Knicks signed Roby, a journeyman power forward, with one game left in the regular season to a non-guaranteed deal that raised eyebrows as he was not playoff-eligible. In hindsight, the team was preparing for Toppin’s departure.

On Thursday, Hoosphype’s Michael Scotto reported that Roby is the Knicks’ backup plan as Randle’s backup after their free agent targets went off their board.

“With Toppin’s departure and not landing a power forward in free agency like [Yuta] Watanabe, the Knicks currently plan to give Isaiah Roby an opportunity as the primary backup forward to Julius Randle, HoopsHype has learned. Josh Hart is also expected to get some minutes as a small-ball power forward,” Scotto wrote.

Roby, the 45th overall pick in 2019, has a $2.06 million non-guaranteed deal that becomes fully guaranteed on Jan. 10 next year. His chance to earn that full contract starts in Las Vegas on Saturday when the Knicks face the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.

His performance will be scrutinized.

Roby has more experience than Toppin.

The 6-foot-8 Robby played a combined 151 games, including 64 starts across four seasons — three with Oklahoma City and last season with the San Antonio Spurs. In 42 games with the Spurs last season, he averaged 4.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11.3 minutes off the bench.

By modern NBA’s definition, Roby is the textbook stretch forward who can hit from the outside and space the floor. But he’s also a tenacious defender who dives for loose balls. He’s a career 35.1% 3-point shooter and his best season came in the 2021-22 season when he averaged 10.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists while hitting a career-high 44.4% from deep for the Thunder.

Knicks Was Bruce Brown’s First Meeting

Newly-minted NBA champion Bruce Brown initially met with the Knicks in free agency before being blown away by the Indiana Pacers’ two-year, $45 million offer.

“The Knicks were the first [meeting]. I think we had others lined up, but we did not make it there,” Brown said via New York Daily News.

All it took for Brown to nix the Knicks was a recruiting pitch from the Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who was taken four spots ahead of Toppin in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Now the trio of Brown, Haliburton and Toppin, flipped for a pair of second-round picks, could haunt the Knicks next season.

Knicks Reject Clippers’ Exorbitant Price for Paul George

The Knicks had an opportunity to toss Toppin in a package for a superstar wing. But they felt, in the end, it was too rich for their blood.

“The Knicks and Clippers originally had trade talks surrounding Paul George at the NBA Draft. At the time, New York was considering a package featuring Obi Toppin, Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, and three first-round picks in exchange for George, league sources told HoopsHype. Toppin was then traded to the Pacers for two second-round picks, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.

After that, RJ Barrett’s name was brought up briefly in trade talks by the Clippers in place of Toppin, league sources told HoopsHype. However, the asking price of parting with Barrett, Grimes, three first-round picks, and then having to negotiate a long-term extension for George, who’s 33 years old, was too high for the Knicks.” Scotto wrote.