MARCH 18: The Knicks have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Hunt to a two-way contract.
MARCH 17: The Knicks plan to sign Feron Hunt of the G League to a two-way contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
In order to sign Hunt, the Knicks have waived forward Luka Samanic, the team’s PR department tweets. Samanic is out for the remainder of the season with a left heel injury.
Hunt 22, went undrafted in 2021 after three collegiate seasons at SMU. He was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract by the Mavericks during training camp, but was waived before the season started. The 6’8″ forward signed a 10-day hardship deal with the Pelicans in December, but didn’t receive any NBA playing time.
Through 37 games (35.2 MPG) with the Texas Legends, Dallas’ affiliate, Hunt is averaging 17.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.4 SPG and 1.1 BPG on .547/.361/.737 shooting.
Samanic was the 19th overall pick of the 2019 draft by the Spurs, who waived him in October of 2021, just before the season started. The 22-year-old Croatian appeared in 36 total games as a Spur, averaging 3.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG on .430/.294/.576 shooting in 9.9 MPG.
He caught on with the Knicks a handful of days later, signing a two-way contract. He hasn’t made an NBA appearance for New York and only played two games for its G League affiliate in Westchester, averaging 26.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.0 SPG and 2.0 BPG on .524/.125/.667 shooting.
Marc Berman of The New York Post says (via Twitter) Samanic’s heel injury is plantar fasciitis, noting the young forward has only played once in the past nine weeks.