The Knicks last played a game in mid-June. The Knicks are back in action later today. Well, at least part of them. In any case, you better be there. Here are today’s links and notes.
- T.J. Saint will coach the SummerKnicks in Las Vegas, starting on Friday at 6 p.m. EST, and the New York Post’s Jared Schwartz made the case that this could be a real gateway opportunity for the former Mercer University standout. Saint is entering his second season with the Knicks after joining under Mike Brown, specializes in offensive strategy, and is replacing Jordan Brink at the Summer League.
- Germany’s außergewöhnlich Jack Kayil is officially (h/t NYP’s Stefan Bondy) on the Knicks’ Summer League roster after a few days of paperwork weirdness. However, he’s still likely bound for his native country once the Sin City festivities are over. Kayil will wear No. 77 in Vegas.
- While researching Kayil’s situation, I found that Knicks legend Rokas Jokubaitis was such a Summer League addict that he wore two different numbers (No. 0 and No. 32) for the organization.
- Jonas Valanciunas is officially out there after Denver waived him on Wednesday, and the Knicks are among the teams monitoring him, per SNY’s Ian Begley. Emphasis mine:
“NYK was interested in Jonas Valanciunas in ‘24 offseason. ‘We had a lot of talks with different teams. New York (was) one of them,’ (Valanciunas) said then. NYK will have solid depth at center if Valanciunas, a former client of Leon Rose, chooses Knicks in his current free agency. He is among centers on their radar.“
- If Valanciunas chooses another path, one of them goes through Lithuania.
- If the Knicks choose another player to fill one of their two open roster spots, perhaps Nick Richards is the man. A awful lot of y’all in the comments section have mentioned him, and Sports Illustrated’s Joseph Randazzo made a case for it yesterday.
- Josh Hart is all jokes and/but he is already over the Mitchell Robinson Celtics era.
- Mitch, meanwhile, responded in a way that I’m not sure if it’s a joke or not… but at least I’m glad he has yet to remove the Knick inside of him.
- The Kawhi Leonard-to-Toronto trade is on hold until the NBA finishes investigating the Clippers’ alleged salary-cap circumvention tied to Aspiration. It’s gonna happen.
- Jaylen Brown is literally still “processing” being shipped to Philadelphia, telling IShowSpeed during yesterday’s World Cup watch that Boston “packed me up” and that there is “no loyalty” and “no love.”
- Charles Barkley joined Unfiltered on Wednesday and had a hilarious yet very real take on the Sixers-Celtics trade. He said Philadelphia. Part of it:
“I was like, ‘This can’t be a true story.’ There’s so much fake stuff on the internet now, I’m like, ‘Nah, they didn’t trade him to the Sixers,’” Barkley said. “Number one, you’re like ‘Wow.’ Secondly, you’re like, ‘Well, what’d they give up?’ They gave up Paul George and some draft picks. I says, ‘Man, the Sixers just got away with murder, man.’”
- Boston Sports Guy Bill Simmons wants you to believe he knows more than he actually does.
- In reality, nobody knows anything about what’s next for LeBron James. ESPN’s very own Shams Charania revealed that franchises in the race have only been allowed to send LBJ voice memos through Rich Paul.
- OAKAAK Landry Fields has joined Project B, not to be confused with Project X.
- Cam Reddish (yes, another member of the OAKAAK fraternity!) is back in Summer League with Orlando, seven years after being drafted No. 10 overall and hooping in Vegas at age 26.
