New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Knicks Add Anton Watson On Two-Way Deal

March 4th, 2025 at 4:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks have claimed former Celtics forward Anton Watson off waivers, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets. Watson is on a two-way contract and will fill New York’s lone two-way opening.

Boston waived Watson on Sunday. A rookie forward selected with the No. 54 pick in last year’s draft, he signed his two-way contract in August but has yet to make his NBA regular season debut.

Watson has appeared in a total of 37 games (34 starts) for the NBA G League’s Maine Celtics in the Tip-Off Tournament and regular season. He’s averaging 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.9 minutes per game.

Watson, 24, played five seasons at Gonzaga and averaged career highs of 14.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season.

The Knicks opened up a pair of two-way slots by waiving Matt Ryan and Jacob Toppin on Sunday. They filled one of those spots by signing MarJon Beauchamp earlier on Tuesday.

Tuesday night is the deadline for teams to sign two-way players.

Knicks Sign MarJon Beauchamp To Two-Way Deal

March 4th, 2025 at 1:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

March 4: The Knicks have officially signed Beauchamp to a two-way contract, the team confirmed today (via Twitter).

March 3: The Knicks are adding MarJon Beauchamp on a two-way contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.

Beauchamp was waived by the Clippers on Saturday in order to promote Jordan Miller to a standard contract. The Knicks opened up a pair of two-way slots by waiving Matt Ryan and Jacob Toppin on Sunday.

The 24th overall pick in 2022, Beauchamp has struggled to establish himself as a reliable NBA rotation player. He has averaged 4.2 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 129 career contests (11.2 MPG).

The 6’7″ forward spent his first two-and-a-half NBA seasons with the Bucks, then was traded from Milwaukee to Los Angeles at the deadline in exchange for Kevin Porter Jr. Beauchamp came off the bench in 26 contests with the Bucks this season before he was dealt and made three limited appearances with the Clippers.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), he’s eligible to be active for 12 of the Knicks’ 22 remaining regular-season games.

Kevin McCullar holds the Knicks’ other two-way contract.

Jalen Brunson, Zach LaVine Named Players Of The Week

March 3rd, 2025 at 2:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks guard Jalen Brunson has been named the NBA’s Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference, while Kings guard Zach LaVine has won the award for the Western Conference, the league announced today (via Twitter).

It has been a few weeks since the NBA handed out Player of the Week honors due to the All-Star break, which resulted in multiple shortened weeks. Brunson and LaVine won for games played between February 24 and March 2.

Brunson and the Knicks went 3-0 during that stretch, with victories over Philadelphia, Memphis, and Miami. The star point guard led the way by averaging 29.3 points, 6.3 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals in 38.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .477/.364/.857.

It’s the second time this season that Brunson has been named the East’s Player of the Week — he also won the award on December 2. This time around, he beat out a group of nominees that consisted of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and De’Andre Hunter, per the league (Twitter link).

LaVine, meanwhile, hit his stride last week after an up-and-down start with his new team in Sacramento. The former Bull helped lead the Kings to a 3-0 week that included wins over Charlotte, Utah, and Houston. He posted a scorching-hot .623/.636/.667 shooting line, averaging 28.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. Sacramento outscored opponents by a total of 67 points during his 106 minutes on the floor.

Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Shaedon Sharpe were also nominated in the West, according to the NBA.

Knicks Notes: Robinson, Achiuwa, Ryan, Bridges, Raptors Dispute

March 3rd, 2025 at 1:33pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who missed the first 58 games of the season while recovering from ankle surgery, was “really good” on Friday in his first game back, head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. The big man had six points and four rebounds and was a +11 in 12 minutes in his season debut vs. Memphis.

Robinson provided the Knicks with some energy off the bench again on Sunday vs. the Heat, grabbing a pair of offensive rebounds, blocking a shot, and making his only field goal attempt in 13 minutes of action. He said after the game that he’s happy about his progress so far.

“It’s coming along. Just taking time. First game, as y’all saw, tired as hell. Second game, not so much. But still a little bit,” Robinson said, per Bondy. “That’s what’s going to happen when you miss 10 months playing ball.”

As Bondy notes in another New York Post story, Robinson has said he believes his minutes limit is 18, but he has been held in the 12-to-13 minute range in each of his first two outings so far. The 26-year-old says he’s OK with that, though he’s looking forward to being able to play a little more.

“I think each week it goes up more and more,” he said of the minutes restriction. “It is [frustrating] because it’s hard to get a rhythm.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Robinson’s return has pushed Precious Achiuwa out of the rotation, as Bondy observes. Achiuwa played just four minutes on Friday and was a DNP-CD for the first time this season on Sunday.
The Knicks have a pair of open two-way slots, which they’ll likely fill on Monday or Tuesday before the March 4 two-way signing deadline. Veteran sharpshooter Matt Ryan was among the two-way players waived by the team over the weekend. “I thought he did a really good job for us. Hard worker,” Thibodeau said of Ryan, according to Bondy. “You’re always looking at ways to improve the team. [Team president Leon Rose] and his staff, that’s what they do. And then we’re obviously very pleased with him and wish him well.”
Mikal Bridges‘ up-and-down season continued on Sunday as he was benched for most of crunch time during the Knicks’ comeback overtime win over Miami. Thibodeau said after the game that he stuck with Miles McBride over Bridges – who scored just five points on 2-of-11 shooting in 28 minutes – because the lineup was working, Bondy writes for The New York Post. Thibodeau added that Bridges took the decision in stride. “That’s what you love about the team. Whoever has got it going, we’re going to ride those guys a little bit more,” Thibodeau said. “The most important thing is the team winning. And Mikal is fully engaged in the team and he does a lot of the dirty work for us and it’s much appreciated.”
The arbitration hearing to settle the legal dispute between the Knicks and Raptors will take place during the week of July 21, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN. The Knicks filed a lawsuit in August 2023 alleging that former video coordinator Ikechukwu Azotam illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to a position in Toronto and shared them with his new club. New York was seeking $10MM in damages from the Raptors, who referred to the suit as “baseless” and argued that the issue ought to be resolved through the NBA’s arbitration process by commissioner Adam Silver rather than in court. That’s what will happen in July, despite the Knicks’ claims that Silver is biased due to his relationship with Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman of the league’s Board of Governors.

Stein’s Latest: Mavericks, Luka, Edwards, Knicks, Kessler, Budenholzer

March 3rd, 2025 at 12:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Sam Amick of The Athletic reported last week that the Mavericks reached out to the Timberwolves to inquire about a possible Luka Doncic/Anthony Edwards swap earlier this season before pivoting to the Lakers and Anthony Davis. Veteran Milwaukee-area reporter Gery Woelfel has reported that the Mavs made a similar inquiry with the Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Addressing those rumors, NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) says he has consistently heard that the Mavericks only discussed Doncic by name with one team: the Lakers.

While Dallas did talk to Minnesota and Milwaukee, according to Stein, those discussions have been described to him as “very brief in nature and intentionally broad and vague,” with no conversations about Doncic specifically.

Here are a few more items of interest from Stein:

Following the expiration of Moses Brown‘s 10-day contract, the Mavericks can’t fill the 15th spot on their standard roster until April 10 due to their hard cap. Promoting two-way player Kessler Edwards, who has played a rotation role in recent weeks and can only be active for 10 more NBA games, is one option Dallas is considering for that final week of the season, league sources tell Stein. However, the team’s decision will depend in part on its health and roster needs as of April 10, Stein notes. While the Mavs have a serious frontcourt shortage right now due to injuries, that may not be the case in five-and-a-half weeks.
The Knicks were “right there” with the Lakers before the trade deadline in trying to pry third-year center Walker Kessler away from the Jazz, league sources tell Stein, who says Utah made it clear to both clubs that it didn’t want to seriously entertain pitches for Kessler during the season. The big man will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2025 offseason.
Although Stein can’t confirm if Mike Budenholzer‘s job in Phoenix is any actual jeopardy, he says the topic has generated “heightened whispering and curiosity” in coaching circles. The Suns parted ways with Monty Williams in 2023 when he still had three years and $20MM+ left on his contract and let go of Frank Vogel in 2024 just one year into his five-season, $31MM deal. Budenholzer reportedly received a five-year contract worth in excess of $50MM when he was hired by Phoenix last May. His Suns have a 28-33 record and are four games back of the final play-in spot in the West.
In case you missed it, Stein also reported that the Wizards gave real consideration to the idea of reacquiring Bradley Beal from the Suns prior to last month’s trade deadline. However, the teams couldn’t agree to terms and it seems unlikely that Beal would have waived his no-trade clause to return to D.C. anyway.

Johnny Davis Joins G League Westchester Knicks

March 2nd, 2025 at 5:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former lottery pick Johnny Davis has signed an NBA G League contract and was claimed off waivers by the Westchester Knicks, the team announced in a press release.

Davis will attempt to rebuild his career in the G League after a disappointing two-and-a-half seasons with Washington. The No. 10 overall pick in 2022, he made 112 total appearances with the Wizards, averaging 3.5 points per game.

The 23-year-old was dealt just prior to the trade deadline to Memphis as part of a three-team transaction. He didn’t play a game with Memphis and the Grizzlies waived him on Feb. 21.

Davis appeared in 28 games as a rookie and 50 more last season, including six starts. In his third season, the 6’5″ guard was a marginal rotation player. He played in 34 games, posting 2.4 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.4 steals over 7.1 minutes per night.

He moved up the draft boards during his sophomore season at Wisconsin, earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors while averaging 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 steals over 34.2 minutes per game.

Knicks Cut Matt Ryan, Jacob Toppin

March 2nd, 2025 at 2:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Knicks have announced that they’ve waived a pair of players on two-way contracts, wing Matt Ryan and forward Jacob Toppin (Twitter link).

With these moves, only swingman Kevin McCullar remains among the club’s two-way players.

As Ian Begley of SNY.tv observes (via Twitter), New York also still has an open standard roster spot. Several intriguing veteran options remain available for the contending Knicks in free agency and the G League.

Ryan, a 6’6″ swingman, appeared in 19 regular season games for New York this season but played very sparingly, logging just 68 total minutes. He had per-game averages of 1.5 points and 0.4 rebounds in 3.6 minutes.

Ryan has also logged time with Boston, the Lakers, Minnesota and New Orleans since 2021/22. Through 82 NBA games over his four-year career, he is averaging 3.7 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. Valued as a floor-spacing wing, he is a career 40.2% long-range sniper on 2.4 triple tries per night.

The 6’9″ Toppin made even less of a dent at the NBA level than Ryan this season. In 16 appearances for New York, the second-year forward averaged 0.4 points and 0.7 boards across 3.1 minutes per game.

That said, Toppin did show promise with the Westchester Knicks. In 11 regular season G League games this year, the younger brother of Pacers forward Obi Toppin averaged 25.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.7 steals per contest.

It’s worth noting that two-way contracts are only available to players who are in their first four years in the NBA, so several players rumored to be on the Knicks’ radar for their standard roster spot, like T.J. Warren, Chuma Okeke, Moses Brown, would not be two-way eligible.

Moses Brown, T.J. Warren, Chuma Okeke On Knicks’ Radar

February 28th, 2025 at 8:58pm CST by Luke Adams

For the first time this season, the Knicks are in position to sign a 15th man. New York has been limited by a restrictive hard cap since acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in October and currently has $540,127 in wiggle room below that second-apron cap, as we detailed earlier this month. As of Friday, a rest-of-season minimum-salary contract for a veteran free agent would carry a cap hit of $539,876.

The Knicks added a crucial piece to their active roster ahead of Friday’s game, with center Mitchell Robinson cleared to play for the first time this season following ankle surgery. But they didn’t make a free agent addition on Friday and are still weighing their options for that 15th spot.

According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), center Moses Brown, forward T.J. Warren, and forward Chuma Okeke are among the players on the Knicks’ radar for their final roster opening.

Warren and Okeke have long been viewed as candidates to become New York’s 15th man — both players were in camp with the team in the fall and have spent the season playing for the Westchester Knicks. They’re also both thriving at the G League level. Warren has averaged 24.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game on .492/.359/.836 shooting in 30 outings for Westchester, while Okeke has put up 17.0 PPG and 8.4 RPG with a .457/.365/.706 shooting line.

Brown is technically under contract with Dallas right now, but his 10-day deal expires on Saturday night. Because the Mavericks have even stricter hard cap constraints than the Knicks, they can’t complete another signing until April 10, meaning they won’t be able to immediately re-sign Brown once his current contract is up.

That could open the door for the Knicks or another team to sign the veteran big man, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds in a start for the Mavs on Thursday. Although New York got Robinson back on Friday, the team traded away Jericho Sims at this month’s deadline and saw rookie center Ariel Hukporti go down with a knee injury earlier in the week, so its frontcourt depth has taken a bit of a hit.

It’s worth noting that 10-day signings are an option for the Knicks if they don’t want to commit to a rest-of-season deal with so much time still left in the season. A 10-day contract would carry a cap charge of $119,972 and would allow the club to audition players or temporarily address holes on the roster while retaining late-season flexibility.

As cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes (via Begley at SNY.tv), not signing anyone on Friday means the Knicks will have enough room under their hard cap to complete a second signing before the end of the regular season if they so choose.

New York currently has 14 players under contract, so a second signing would require the team to waive one of the players on its standard roster. But if the Knicks, for example, want to have both Warren and Okeke on their playoff roster, they could sign one of them on Saturday and the other on the final day of the season, cutting a little-used player such as Delon Wright at that time. The later they complete one signing, the earlier they could make a second roster move.

Mitchell Robinson Making Season Debut On Friday

February 28th, 2025 at 5:57pm CST by Tristan Tucker

February 28: Robinson will make his season debut on Friday vs. Memphis, Charania confirms (via Twitter).

February 27: Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has been upgraded to questionable and is on track to make his season debut as early as Friday against the Grizzlies, Shams Charania of ESPN reports (Twitter link).

Robinson hasn’t played since Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Pacers last spring, having been sidelined for all of 2024/25 so far while he recovered from ankle surgery.

It’s unclear exactly which game Robinson will return for, as Charania’s report says he’ll play “as early as” Friday. He’ll travel for the team’s upcoming two-game road trip that includes a matchup in Miami on Sunday and is expected to play in at least one of those two games.

It was previously reported that Robinson was “inching” toward a return and that the Knicks were optimistic about having him back this weekend. Robinson may be brought along slowly after not playing at all this season so far. However, when he’s at full strength, he’s an obvious boost to a Knicks frontcourt with depleted depth.

With Robinson out and Karl-Anthony Towns missing the team’s last game due to a lower body injury, New York turned to rookie Ariel Hukporti to make his first career start on Wednesday night. However, the rookie center is now out for at least four-to-six weeks with a significant knee injury he suffered in that game.

Not counting Robinson, Hukporti’s injury left the Knicks with only Precious Achiuwa as a big-man option behind Towns.

Robinson is a force on the boards for the Knicks, averaging 7.9 rebounds in 24.5 minutes per game over the course of his career. Last season, he averaged 5.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks, establishing himself as a defensive anchor for the team and ranking second in the league with 4.6 offensive rebounds per night. However, he was only available for 31 regular season contests and missed the final six games of the playoffs due to his ankle issues.

While Robinson is expected to come off the bench behind Towns upon returning to action, the Knicks figure to utilize the two big men together at times, with Towns stretching the floor on offense and Robinson protecting the rim on defense.

Knicks’ Hukporti To Miss At Least 4-6 Weeks Following Knee Surgery

February 28th, 2025 at 5:18pm CST by Rory Maher

February 28: Hukporti underwent surgery on Friday to address his left meniscus tear and will be reevaluated in four-to-six weeks, according to the Knicks (Twitter link).

February 27: Knicks center Ariel Hukporti made his first career start in Wednesday’s victory over Philadelphia, recording eight points, two rebounds and a block in 16 minutes. Unfortunately, the German big man also sustained a significant injury during the game.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), the 22-year-old is expected to be sidelined for the next four-to-six weeks after suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee.

Steve Popper of Newsday confirms (via Twitter) that Hukporti will be out for an extended period, though he hears the team is still evaluating the test results and it’s not yet certain that Hukporti sustained a meniscus injury.

The 58th and final pick of the 2024 draft, Hukporti has received sporadic playing time during his rookie season, averaging 1.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game across 25 appearances.

It’s a tough blow for Hukporti, who was initially signed to a two-way contract but was converted to a standard deal in early November in part to navigate New York’s salary cap situation. The Knicks hold a minimum-salary team option on his contract for 2025/26.

If Hukporti is able to return at the conservative end of the timeline Charania reported — six weeks — he would back just in time for the end of the regular season in mid-April. Returning sooner would obviously give him more time to prepare as the Knicks prepare for a playoff push — they’re currently the No. 3 seed in the East, with a record of 38-20.

On a more positive note, Mitchell Robinson is reportedly on track to make his season debut this weekend, so he should help fortify the Knicks’ frontcourt depth, which will be a little more thin with Hukporti out. Precious Achiuwa is another candidate for more minutes at backup center.

The Knicks also have an open roster spot and will be able to squeeze in a rest-of-season minimum-salary contract for a 15th man below their hard cap as of Friday.