New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

RJ Barrett To Remain Sidelined At Least One More Week

January 25th, 2020 at 11:57am CST by marksuleymanov

Knicks rookie RJ Barrett, sidelined with a sprained right ankle, has transitioned from crutches to a walking boot, the team announced on Saturday (Twitter link). Barrett is set to be reevaluated in one week.

Barrett, 19, sprained his ankle last Thursday and was set for a reevaluation one week after sustaining the injury. In an otherwise abysmal 12-34 season, the Duke product has been a bright spot for the Knicks.

In 41 games this season, Barrett is averaging 14.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 2.5 APG. He has struggled to shoot at a consistent clip, making 39.3% of his attempts from the field at the time of the injury.

Free Agent Stock Watch 2020: Atlantic Division

January 24th, 2020 at 8:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Every week, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents next offseason. We examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors. This week, we take a look at players from the Atlantic Division:

Furkan Korkmaz, Sixers, 22, SG (Up) – Signed to a two-year, $3.34MM deal in 2019
This was the player the Sixers envisioned when they made Korkmaz a draft-and-stash pick in 2016. Korkmaz has become a steady presence in Philadelphia’s rotation and is averaging 8.9 PPG while shooting 39.5% from deep. He’s made a significant impact in the last five games, averaging 16.6 PPG while lifting the Sixers to four victories. With Josh Richardson out a few weeks with a hamstring injury, Korkmaz figures to get even more playing time in the near future. Korkmaz’s $1.76MM contract for next season isn’t guaranteed but it’s a foregone conclusion Philadelphia will retain him.

Joe Harris, Nets, 28, SF (Down) – Signed to a two-year, $16MM deal in 2018
Overall, Harris’ numbers are virtually identical to last season’s output, other than a dropoff from an outstanding 47.4% success rate on 3-point tries to a still very solid 40.8%. However, like his team, Harris has been in a slump. He’s scored 13 or fewer points in his last seven games and made seven more turnovers than 3-pointers during that stretch. Harris is too established to stay in this funk for very long. He will still receive offers well above his current salary of $7.67MM but stretches like this might temper some of the enthusiasm for his services when he heads into unrestricted free agency this summer.

Wayne Ellington, Knicks, 32, SG (Down) – Signed to a two-year, $16MM deal in 2019
Ellington had a couple of good years in Miami and gave Detroit a lift during the second half of last season but he’s been a non-factor with the Knicks. Ellington has only appeared in 23 games, averaging 4.0 PPG in 14.3 MPG while making just 30.9% of his 3-point attempts. If the veteran guard isn’t knocking down his threes, there’s no reason to play him — he hasn’t seen any court time since January 14. Only $1MM of Ellington’s $8MM contract for next season is guaranteed. It’s safe to say he will not have to other $7MM forwarded to his bank account. In fact, he may struggle to find anything more than the veteran’s minimum on the market this summer.

Fred VanVleet, Raptors, 25, SG (Up) – Signed to a two-year, $18MM deal in 2018
The arrow continues to point upward for the fourth-year guard, whose production has steadily climbed as his playing time has expanded. VanVleet has missed some games this season due to injuries, most recently a hamstring strain. In the 34 games he’s started, he’s averaging 18.5 PPG, 6.8 APG and 2.0 SPG while shooting 40.2% on 3-point attempts. In the first three games since returning to action, VanVleet averaged 23.7 PPG and made 14 of 19 3-point attempts. He could be looking at offers in the $20-25MM per year range as an unrestricted free agent.

Enes Kanter, Celtics, 27, C (Up) – Signed to a two-year, $9.77MM deal in 2019
Kanter was the third overall pick in the draft back in 2011, so it’s easy to overlook the fact he’s still just 27 years old. Kanter has always been a double-double machine when given extended minutes. He’s averaging 18.5 MPG, his lowest amount of court time since the 2012/13 season with Utah. Yet he’s posted six doubles-doubles since New Year’s Eve, including a game-changing 18-point, 11-rebound outing against the Lakers this week. Kanter holds a $5MM player option on his contract for next season. He might test the market again and see if he can get a better deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eastern Notes: Oladipo, DSJ, Jackson, Pinson

January 23rd, 2020 at 11:17pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Victor Oladipo remains on track to return to the court next Wednesday when the Pacers take on the Bulls, a source tells Hoops Rumors. Oladipo, who has spent time this month in the G League rehabbing, hasn’t played since January of last year after he ruptured his quad tendon in his right knee, but has had January 29 circled on his calendar for the last few weeks.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Knicks guard Dennis Smith Jr. could get moved prior to the trade deadline for the second straight season but he’s not focused on the rumors, as Peter Botte of the New York Post writes. “Everything happens for a reason, you know what I’m saying?” Smith said. “It was already written, God’s plan, I just gotta execute my part, put my work in and everything will work out…It’s a business. I’m here, playing for the New York Knicks, that’s my job right now, so that’s what I’m focused on. You realized [last year] anything can happen, so you just gotta be the best version of yourself.”
Reggie Jackson recently returned to the court and Pistons coach Dwane Casey is looking for ways to incorporate him with Derrick Rose, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Both point guards could get serious run on the court together. “That’s what today’s NBA is about and that’s what a lot of my offense is about: multiple ballhandlers — and sometimes we get stuck. We have some options in case we do have a non-ballhandler involved in a situation, but it works a lot more fluid,” Casey said.
Theo Pinson, who has struggled with his shot this season, spoke about his up-and-down sophomore campaign with the Nets, as Chris Milholen of NetsDaily relays. “Just listening to the vets. It is not going to be highs the whole season. It’s a long season. Just take everything and embrace it and I’m always telling myself that the Lord won’t put me in situations I couldn’t handle. I just try to remember that,” Pinson said.

NBA Trade Candidate Watch: Atlantic Division

January 23rd, 2020 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Over the course of the 2019/20 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.

The Atlantic is perhaps the most confounding NBA division when it comes to the trade deadline. The Raptors, Celtics, and Sixers are all potential contenders to come out of the East and may theoretically be looking to make upgrades, but their contract situations make it tricky to identify specific moves that would help.

The Nets are essentially in a holding pattern until they get their full roster healthy next season. The Knicks as sellers appeared to be the only safe bet on the board in the Atlantic, but they’ve resisted that label to some extent.

As we wait to see how the Atlantic teams approach the deadline, here are three (or four) more potential trade candidates from around the division…

Dennis Smith Jr., PG
New York Knicks
$4.5MM cap hit; $5.7MM guaranteed salary in 2020/21; RFA in 2021

A report last month indicated that teams, including the Timberwolves, had expressed some interest in Smith. There are plenty of factors complicating a potential deal though. For one, he was sidelined for a month with an oblique strain before returning last night, and will probably have to show he’s fully healthy before the deadline to increase the odds of a trade. That means the Knicks will have to give him more playing time than the four minutes he received on Wednesday.

Even then, Knicks management may be reluctant to move Smith without a decent return, since doing so would represent a further admission that last year’s blockbuster with the Mavs isn’t working out. The team already failed to land a star with the 2019 cap room created in that deal, and the two future first-round picks owed to New York almost certainly won’t be as valuable as initially hoped, given Dallas’ improvement.

Considering how poorly Smith has played in limited minutes this season, it’s hard to see the Knicks netting more than a low second-round pick and salary filler in exchange for Smith. The club may decide it would rather take its chances on DSJ turning things around and recapturing some of the potential that made him a top-10 pick in 2017.

A trade before the deadline is a possibility, but I think it’d be more likely if the same executives who acquired Smith a year ago weren’t the same ones tasked to decide whether or not to move him.

Raul Neto / Trey Burke, PG
Philadelphia 76ers
$1.62MM cap hit; UFA in 2020

Neither Neto nor Burke has really been involved in any rumors yet, but they’re trade candidates in a roundabout way. The Sixers have been linked to point guards who could be on the trade block, and if the team actually acquires a point guard, either Neto or Burke would become expendable.

The 76ers have gone back and forth this year between Neto and Burke as the primary backup to Ben Simmons, so it’s not entirely clear who would be the odd man out if the team makes a move to fortify its backcourt.

Both players are on minimum-salary contracts that expire at season’s end, meaning there’s no financial incentive to move one over the other. Neto is the better defender and perhaps the steadier floor general, but he doesn’t possess Burke’s play-making or scoring ability. The on/off-court numbers favor Burke — the Sixers have a +7.2 net rating when he plays, compared to +1.2 for Neto.

If the 76ers end up standing pat or focus on improving another area, both Neto and Burke could certainly finish the season in Philadelphia. But if they go out and acquire another guard, I’d expect the Sixers to try to find a trade partner interested in acquiring Neto or Burke as a third point guard.

Rodions Kurucs, F
Brooklyn Nets
$1.7MM cap hit; $1.8MM guaranteed salary in 2020/21; $1.9MM team option for 2021/22

After a promising rookie season, Kurucs has taken a step backward in 2019/20. Despite a series of injury creating a path to a regular role for the Latvian forward, he doesn’t seem to have fully earned Kenny Atkinson‘s trust. His minutes per game have dipped from 20.5 to 13.3 and he’s received several DNP-CDs.

There are some promising numbers in this year’s small sample, including a .439 3PT%, and teams monitoring the Nets may view Kurucs as a buy-low candidate. However, off-court concerns may scare those teams away, since the 21-year-old was arrested during the offseason on a domestic violence charge.

We heard in December that there are teams doing their homework on Kurucs to see if he makes sense as a trade target. Presumably, that research centers on the domestic violence allegation — if it’s credible, clubs will be less enthusiastic about the idea of making a deal for the former second-round pick.

Kurucs is due back in court on February 11, meaning there will be no resolution in his legal case by the February 6 trade deadline. As a result, it’s hard to see him being moved.

Revisit the rest of our 2019/20 Trade Candidate series right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Knicks Management Reportedly Had Playoff Expectations

January 23rd, 2020 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks management didn’t make any public statements during the preseason suggesting they expected to make the postseason, but Ian Begley of SNY.tv hears that the front office privately conveyed to players that anything less than a playoff spot would be a disappointment. According to Begley, Knicks players who can become free agents in 2020 were told they’d be judged more heavily on the team’s win-loss record than on their individual play.

As Begley explains, management may have been trying to motivate a roster that consisted of mostly young players or newcomers. If that was the plan, it has backfired, as the Knicks have fallen well short of those expectations.

Begley’s article is worth checking out in full for more details on the pressure the coaches and players have felt this season and how those preseason expectations influenced the decision to fire David Fizdale. In my view, if Steve Mills and Scott Perry legitimately believed the Knicks should be a playoff team, that should be more of an indictment of their ability to build and evaluate a roster than of the coaches’ or players’ performances.

Malik Monk On Knicks’ Radar

January 23rd, 2020 at 11:04am CST by Luke Adams

Some members of the Knicks‘ organization view Hornets guard Malik Monk as a trade target worth pursuing, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv. However, Begley cautions that it’s not clear whether New York and Charlotte have actually had any conversations about Monk.

Monk, who will turn 22 next month, hasn’t developed like the Hornets hoped when they drafted him 11th overall in 2017. This season, he’s averaging 8.4 PPG with a career-high .429 FG%, but his 3PT% has slipped to a dismal .252. A change of scenery could benefit the former Kentucky sharpshooter.

As Begley writes, the Knicks are believed to be interested in acquiring a starter-level player who could help the team in both the short- and long-term. However, the front office appears reluctant to part with any of its top young prospects or future first-round picks, so acquiring a starter-level player will be a challenge.

Landing a reclamation project like Monk might be a more realistic scenario, though the Knicks haven’t had much success with another change-of-scenery prospect from the 2017 lottery, Dennis Smith Jr.

Whether or not they pursue Monk, the Knicks seem likely to be active at the trade deadline, according to Begley, who notes that contenders around the NBA continue to monitor New York’s veterans, including Marcus Morris.

Knicks Notes: Rebuilding, Development, Davis, Smith Jr.

January 22nd, 2020 at 7:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Following their failure to land a star on the free agent market last summer, the Knicks are in the midst of another long rebuild, Steve Popper of Newsday writes. Their young players have not shown signs of future stardom and the seven veteran free agents signed over the summer have failed to lift the franchise from the bottom of the standings, Popper continues. Most of the young players, as well as the veterans, are on the trading block. That includes Julius Randle, the only free agent who received a full guarantee on the second year of his contract.

We have more on the Knicks:

The club is struggling with the dilemma of improving its chances of winning by playing veterans and devoting more time to toward developing young players, as Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic details. The Knicks have doled approximately 40% of their minutes to players 22 years old or younger, second in the NBA behind only the Hawks, but have relied on their veterans in recent games.
The home game against the Lakers on Wednesday provided the only opportunity this season for fans to show some love for potential free agent Anthony Davis, Marc Berman of the New York Post notes. Signing with the woeful Knicks doesn’t appear to be on Davis’ radar but the Knicks will have plenty of cap room and Berman, citing sources, claims Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, would one day like to bring his superstar client to New York.
Guard Dennis Smith Jr. was available to play on Wednesday, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets. Smith missed the last 13 games due to an oblique strain.

Knicks Notes: Fizdale, Veterans, Trade Targets

January 21st, 2020 at 8:50am CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on ESPN’s The Jump on Monday, former Knicks head coach David Fizdale said the toughest part about being fired a year and a half after joining the franchise was fulfilling the goal of turning things around and giving fans a winner. However, Fizdale still believes that the club is well-positioned to improve going forward.

“I think that they have really good young talent and those young guys are going to keep getting better, Fizdale said of the Knicks, per Steve Popper of Newsday. “They have to continue to draft well because they have a lot of draft picks over the next few years. Then with the veterans that they did sign, they have to figure out which guys they want to retain and which guys they want to move on from. But they do have a lot of cap space there and they will have an opportunity to get back in the free-agency market this summer.

“So I really think they’re in a good position,” the ex-Knicks coach added. “I know a lot of people don’t and a lot of people are down on them. But I actually think that they’re in a good position to make some good things happen for the organization.”

While a segment of Knicks fans may prefer to see the team’s young players get some of the minutes currently going to veterans, the team “clearly has a showcase mentality” with those vets, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Berman suggests there will be plenty of time for New York to increase the youngsters’ roles after the trade deadline.
Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic identifies a few players and potential trades that could be of interest to the Knicks at the deadline. Jerome Robinson, Kris Dunn, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are among the players Vorkunov thinks might be logical targets.

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/20/20

January 20th, 2020 at 7:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Here are Monday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the league:

The Celtics recalled rookie guard Carsen Edwards prior to their game against the Lakers, the team’s PR department tweets. Edwards has come off the bench in 27 games with Boston this season, averaging 3.2 PPG in 9.9 MPG.
The Knicks recalled rookie forward Ignas Brazdeikis from their Westchester affiliate, the team’s PR department tweets. Brazdeikis has appeared in nine games with the NBA club, averaging 1.9 PPG in 5.9 MPG.
The Pacers assigned guard Victor Oladipo to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for a practice, the team tweets. Oladipo is expected to make his long-awaited season debut next week.
The Wizards recalled rookie guard Admiral Schofield, the team tweets. Schofield has appeared in 24 games with the Wizards this season but did not play in the team’s win over Detroit on Monday.
The Clippers recalled guard Terance Mann from their Agua Caliente affiliate, the team announced today. Mann has played 27 games for the Clippers this season, averaging 1.9 PPG in 8.1 MPG.
The Thunder assigned center Justin Patton to the Oklahoma City Blue, according to a team press release. Patton is averaging 12.1 PPG and 8.2 RPG in 23 games with the Blue. He has appeared in five games for the Thunder this season, averaging 1.8 PPG in 4.8 MPG.

Dennis Smith Jr. To Be Re-Evaluated On Tuesday

January 20th, 2020 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

Dennis Smith Jr., who will miss his 13th consecutive game on Monday night due to an oblique strain, is due to be re-evaluated on Tuesday, at which point the Knicks may have a clearer idea of when he might be able to return, says Greg Joyce of The New York Post.

“He is progressing well,” Knicks head coach Mike Miller said of Smith. “He has been practicing some. With games every day, we haven’t practiced anything steady. So he’s been able to get some practices in, but not a lot of contact and not much full court.”

It has been a disappointing first full season in New York for Smith, who is averaging just 5.2 PPG on .325/.293/.500 shooting in 21 games (16.1 MPG). The former lottery pick will also have to compete with fellow Knicks point guards Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntilikina for minutes when he’s ready to return.