New York Knicks Blog – Page 4 – NBA Blog

Knicks sign Duane Washington Jr. to two-way contract

The New York Knicks have signed guard Duane Washington Jr. to a two-way contract.

Washington Jr., 6-3, 197-pounds, was waived by Phoenix on Feb. 1 after averaging 7.9 points, 2.0 assists and 1.2 rebounds over 12.7 minutes in 31 games (three starts) with Suns. He recorded four 20-point performances this season, including career highs of 26 points and seven assists in a win at Memphis on Dec. 27.

He began his career in Indiana, averaging 9.9 points on 37.7% shooting from downtown with 1.8 assists over 20.2 minutes in 48 games (seven starts) during the 2021-22 season. Among qualified NBA rookies, he ranked 12th in points per game, third in three-point percentage and ninth with 81 made three-pointers. Washington set a Pacers rookie record by making seven three-pointers at New Orleans on Jan. 24. He also appeared in 11 games (all starts) with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League, averaging 19.5 points, 4.4 assists and 3.4 rebounds over 32.5 minutes.

The Frankfurt, Germany-native went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft following a three-year career at Ohio State University where he earned All-Big Ten honors in his final season after averaging a team-high 16.4 points to go along with 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists over 32.2 minutes in 31 games all starts).

Four-team NBA trade sends Cam Reddish and Matisse Thybulle to Blazers, Josh Hart to Knicks

The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired forward Cam Reddish, guard Ryan Arcidiacono and a 2023 first round pick from the New York Knicks in exchange for forward Josh Hart, it was announced today by General Manager Joe Cronin.

Additionally, Portland acquires guard Matisse Thybulle from the Philadelphia 76ers for a 2029 second round pick and sends a 2027 second round pick to the Charlotte Hornets.

Charlotte sends Jalen McDaniels and a 2024 second round pick to Philadelphia and receives a 2023 second round pick from the 76ers and guard/forward Svi Mykhailiuk from the Knicks.

RE-STATING SOME OF THE ABOVE: To complete the trade, Philadelphia dealt Thybulle to Portland and a 2023 second-round pick (most favorable of Atlanta, Brooklyn or Charlotte) to Charlotte. Portland traded its 2029 second-round selection to Philadelphia, a 2027 second-round pick (more favorable of New Orleans or Portland) to Charlotte, and Josh Hart and the draft rights to Bojan Dublijevic and Daniel Diez to New York. In addition to McDaniels, the Hornets traded New York’s 2024 second-round pick to the 76ers.

Reddish is averaging 8.4 points (44.9% FG, 30.4% 3-PT, 87.9% FT), 1.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 21.9 minutes per game in 20 games (eight starts) this season with New York. The former Duke University standout holds career averages of 10.2 points (39.3% FG, 32.3% 3-PT, 84.4% FT), 3.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 24.5 minutes in 153 games (70 starts) in three seasons for Atlanta and New York. Reddish was originally selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 10th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

In 228 career games, Arcidiacono (aar-chee-dee-ACK-uh-no) has averaged 4.4 points, 2.0 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game for Chicago and New York. After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, Arcidiacono spent the 2016-17 season playing for the Austin Spurs, the NBA G League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs, before signing a two-way contract with Chicago in 2017.

Originally selected by the Boston Celtics with the 20th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Thybulle (thigh-bull) is averaging 2.7 points (43.1% FG, 33.3% 3-PT, 75.0% FT) and 1.3 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game in 49 games (six starts) this season with the 76ers. In 245 career games (78 starts) with Philadelphia over four seasons, he has accrued career averages of 4.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assists in 19.8 minutes per game. The Australian guard was a two-time All-NBA Defensive Second Team selection in 2021 and 2022 and is the only NBA player to record at least 250 steals and 150 blocks since the 2020-21 season.

In a subsequent move, the Trail Blazers have waived Greg Brown III.

TNT adds January 26 Knicks at Celtics game to TV schedule, drops Bulls at Hornets

In NBA national TV news, on Thursday, January 26, TNT will now televise the Knicks at Celtics game, and have dropped the Bulls at Hornets.

The Celtics at 29-12 have the best record in the NBA, while the Knicks at 22-19 currently sit a respectable 7th in the Eastern conference.

The Bulls (19-22) are currently 10th in the East, while the Hornets (11-31) are just 14th.

NBA penalizes Knicks for early free agency discussions on Jalen Brunson

The NBA announced today the New York Knicks violated league rules governing the timing of this season’s free agency discussions and that the league has rescinded New York’s own second-round pick in the 2025 Draft.

From the league: “This outcome reflected a finding, following an investigation, that the Knicks engaged in free agency discussions involving Jalen Brunson prior to the date when such discussions were permitted. The team fully cooperated with the investigation.”

Per the New York Post, “the Knicks signed Brunson to a four-year, $104 contract, and he has been worth every penny so far, leading the Knicks to an 18-13 record and their current eight-game winning streak.”

Former NBA player Louis Orr dies

Louis Orr, who mostly played for the New York Knicks during his NBA career, has sadly passed away at a fairly young age. Via the New York Times:

Louis Orr, a star forward at Syracuse who in the 1980s played for the Knicks alongside Bernard King and Patrick Ewing and who later became a college coach, including as Ewing’s assistant at Georgetown, died on Thursday at his home in Cincinnati. He was 64.

The cause was melanoma, his daughter, Monica Russell, said.

Orr shot over 50 percent for all four years of his Syracuse career. After serving as the sixth man as a freshman, he became a starter, with his best year coming as a senior, in the 1979-80 season, when he averaged 16 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. The Orange won the Big East championship that year, and Orr was named the team’s most valuable player and selected for the all-Big East first team.

He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 1980 and joined the Knicks in 1982. He found that his skinny physique was an issue in the N.B.A.

Tons of traveling and carrying calls made in Cavs at Knicks game

Via the New York Post:

Julius Randle was still stunned 30 minutes after the game had finished.

Fourteen traveling and carrying calls were made in the Knicks’ 92-81 win over the Cavaliers on Sunday night, the most in an NBA game this season.

“I’ve never seen that in my life,” the Knicks forward said…

The 14 travels and carries were the most in a game in the last 25 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Since it is a play-by-play stat, that type of information is not readily available for all of NBA history, and Elias couldn’t go back any further.

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Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau keeps the faith in Obi Toppin

Via the New York Post:

Obi Toppin’s promising season hit a road bump out west.

The reserve forward struggled in the final four games of the trip with his shot, going 5-for-28 from the field and 2-for-15 from 3-point range. He was particularly off against the Warriors, missing all five of his shot attempts — including two dunks.

Toppin had performed so well up to that point. He shot above 40 percent from distance before this mini-slump. But coach Tom Thibodeau believes it is only temporary.

“I trust his process,” the Knicks’ coach said. “He’s very diligent. I think he has a strategy for everything. He’s put a lot of time into his shooting. Players go through things like that, but he can help us in a lot of different ways. Just the way he moves the ball, the way he runs the floor, gets some rebounds. But I’m very confident in his ability.”

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Knicks reportedly receiving trade interest in Immanuel Quickley

Via the New York Post:

It’s still early for trades in the NBA season, but the Knicks are apparently getting calls on one of their young pieces.

Immanuel Quickley has drawn trade interest, SNY reported on Friday, with multiple teams calling New York about its third-year guard.

Through 12 games, Quickley is averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 21.3 minutes off the bench. He is shooting a career-low 28.3 percent from beyond the arc, though his corner 3 with 40.5 seconds left in Friday’s game against the Pistons helped the Knicks pull away for a win.

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The latest on the Knicks

Via the New York Post:

The Knicks began their second 10-game segment of the season Wednesday night in Brooklyn with an embarrassing defeat, even busting the trend of statistical mediocrity — in almost every way — from their 5-5 start.

All of their wins in that initial stretch had come against teams with losing records, while all of the losses were suffered against clubs above the .500 mark.

Kevin Durant and the Nets came in with a 4-7 record — not to mention being embroiled in a recent coaching change and the Kyrie Irving suspension — yet hammered the Knicks from start to finish in a 112-85 beatdown at Barclays Center.

Through Tuesday’s league-wide shutdown for Election Day — a terrific idea, by the way — the Knicks also were squarely in the middle of the NBA pack statistically, ranking 16th in offense and 16th in defense (they’re now No. 23 in offense and No. 19 in defense). Such symmetry held both encouraging and disappointing trends depending on your general optimism or pessimism when evaluating the team’s progress and long-term prognosis, beginning with how they respond to this horrid showing Friday night at home against the Pistons.

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On the Knicks starting lineup

Via the New York Post:

Knicks fans eager to see change seven games into the season are going to need to be patient.

Tom Thibodeau doesn’t sound ready to make any alterations to his starting lineup yet despite the unit’s early struggles.

“We’ll see how it unfolds,” the Knicks’ coach said, when asked how much of a sample size is needed before considering a change. “So, you wanna make sure that you get a good look at everything.”

When the starters issues were pointed out, that the quintet of RJ Barrett, Jalen Brunson, Mitchell Robinson, Evan Fournier and Julius Randle has a minus-9.2 rating per 100 possessions and a defensive rating of 116.9, which would be 27th in the league, Thibodeau pointed out how well the group started in Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks. The team’s third straight defeat, in which a 23-point, second-quarter lead became a noncompetitive 13-point loss, he felt was on everyone.

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