He is one of the more interesting prospects who will take the floor at the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League this week, having already done so during the California Classic with the Warriors last week. That’s because Kevin Knox really isn’t the classic summer hopeful we see so often in the NBA—he is a decided draft bust looking for a chance.
Knox has history, much of it not so good. He was the No. 9 pick of the Knicks in 2018, and in his six seasons since, has had difficulty forging a role in the league. He is an athletic scoring wing who isn’t quite athletic enough and isn’t quite a good enough scorer. Knox is a guy with 3-and-D potential, except that he is not a great 3-point shooter and is not a great defender.
Kinda hard to fit in the league that way, eh?
But Knox is only 24 and there is still the potential he could carve out an NBA place. It might not be with the Warriors long-term, but the team has an open two-way spot and Knox will at least be in the mix for that.
He certainly bears watching. In fact, at ESPN, they’re calling him the player who is most worth watching at Summer League for the Warriors.
Warriors Could Add Another 2-Way Player
That’s the view from ESPN analyst Kevin Pelton, who wrote in an article titled, “2024 NBA summer league: The top players to watch on all 30 teams,” that Knox was the Warriors’ entry on that list. As he put it:
“When Knox last played summer league in 2019, he was a featured player for the Knicks coming off his rookie season as the No. 9 pick. Now Knox, who turns 25 next month, is trying to resurrect his career after being waived twice last season. Demonstrating improved 3-point shooting will be key for Knox, a career 34% shooter who shot 33% beyond the arc in 31 games for the Pistons in 2023-24.”
This will be an opportunity for Knox to change the narrative on his career which has, to date, been shaky, at best. The Warriors need to be careful about adding players because they’re close to the dreaded “second apron” of the luxury tax, but they can avoid taking a cap hit by signing Knox as a two-way player.
Kevin Knox Earned Draft Bust Reputation
Knox was best known with the Knicks as the guy the team chose in the Top 10 in 2018 rather than taking the player they just traded for, Mikal Bridges, who went 10th. The Knicks yielded five first-round picks to get Bridges.
At the time, though, the player many had pegged as being the Knicks’ selection was guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But he slipped to No. 11 after the Knicks passed on him. Michael Porter Jr. went 14th, and Donte DiVincenzo went 17th—the fact that Knox was picked ahead of those players only made his quick fall that much worse.
Now Knox is using the Warriors as a way to fight to stay in the NBA.
Knox had a chance to win a job back when he was a 19-year-old rookie for the Knicks, playing 75 games, including 57 starts. But he shot an abysmal 37.0% from the field and 34.3% from the 3-point line, playing 28.8 minutes per game. Clearly, he was not ready.
He never topped 20 minutes per game again in his career. He was traded in 2022 to Atlanta, but did not get much of a chance to play there, either.
Knox bounced between the Pistons, Jazz (who waived him) and Blazers over the following two years and currently has an impressive resume: 7.4 points per game in 18.0 minutes over 306 career games. His shooting has been woeful, at 39.2% from the field and 34.1% from the 3-point arc.
He will need to show something in the coming weeks to earn another shot, with the Warriors or elsewhere.
