3 KNICKS WHO WON’T RETURN FOR THE 2024 SEASON

Similar to the last two offseasons in the Big Apple, the New York Knicks will have a lot of financial and roster construction decisions to account for this summer as they look towards advancing closer to championship contention in 2024. 

Through the first two years of the Leon Rose regime, the Knicks seemed to hit lightning in a bottle with their slew of free agency and trade deadline acquisitions. They nailed the signing of rising star guard Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract in 2022 that has paid dividends with the elite performer he has become. They also lured incredibly gritty and complimentary pieces in Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby, all players that fit the Tom Thibodeau system and add talent to different areas of the game that shone this past season. 

As the team heads into this offseason on the heels of their elimination in the second round of the NBA playoffs, their objective will be to retain as many of these core players as possible for the long term while simultaneously upgrading the depth beneath them. It was that weakness that came to roost on the postseason stage as injuries ravaged the rotation, meaning there are names destined to hit the road to open up spots for the incoming moves that could be made this summer. 

The Knicks have seven total players that will be free agents at the start of the 2024 league year, including three guys that had to play huge roles late in the postseason run and a few more on two-way contracts. Some of these pieces could get retained and involved in a blockbuster deal if New York finds a trade suitor for one of the top-tier names looking to shift homes to the big city. 

Either way, the Knicks have found their foundation behind the Villanova trio of Brunson, DiVincenzo and Josh Hart and are expected to return with a solid starting five once Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson are fully healthy. What’s next is deliberating who should remain a part of the future and who will take the team to the next level that they fell just short of in 2023. 

1. Alec Burks

A two-time member of the Tom Thibodeau-led Knicks, Alec Burks made his return to New York after being traded at the February deadline from Detroit with Bojan Bogdanovic. The two players were acquired to restock the rotation with an offensive boost that was lost from the earlier Toronto trade involving RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, but the results just never panned out for Burks until he was pressed into extended minutes in the postseason. 

Appearing in 23 games for the Knicks post-trade, Burks averaged 6.5 points per night on 30.7% shooting from the field. That efficiency marked the lowest point of his 12-year career at the professional level and it fell slightly lower behind the three-point line where he averaged just 1.1 made shots on 3.6 attempts and 30.1% in the same span. 

During his first tenure with the franchise, Burks was one of the best sharpshooters on the team and even made a name for himself as a faulty point guard when the Knicks lacked one. That created the hope that his familiarity with Thibodeau’s system would jive in the second go-around to give the bench unit a wing offensive injection, but instead Burks saw just five games with double-digit points, seven with at least two threes made and his exile from the rotation for the remainder of the regular season. 

Give credit where it’s due for his efforts on the postseason stage, as Burks stepped up and gave the Knicks four games of 21+ minutes and 14 points in the second round against Indiana. He made a final positive impression in Game 7 when he fought to keep New York in the rout with a tenure-high 26 points on 61.5% shooting from the field, but there doesn’t seem to be a long-term fit with the veteran who was brought back as an “all in” rental and figures to fall down the depth chart returns. 

Letting Burks walk will remove his $10.48 million cap hit from the Knicks’ books and allow them to use it to strengthen the reserves with a player that will shoot more efficiently and play more comfortably in a defensive-minded system.

2. Precious Achiuwa

When the Knicks acquired Precious Achiuwa as a throw-in from Toronto in the OG Anunoby trade, his purpose was to give the team a few minutes per game off the bench and supply some depth at the four spot behind Julius Randle and OG Anunoby. 

Yet when both were dealing with ailments, Achiuwa was forced into massive minutes for the second half of the season and the playoffs. In that span, there were a few of his deficiencies that stood out and that cost the Knicks in the final series with the Pacers. 

For one thing, Achiuwa was not a reliable and consistent scoring option to be a true heavy minutes player. In 49 games with New York, he averaged 7.6 points on 50.1% shooting from the field, but he held just nine contests with at least 10 points and one with over 20 scored. His free throw shooting was even more abysmal, converting as low as 36.1% from the charity stripe in the postseason. 

The  Knicks were lacking size after Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson went down in the playoffs and they tried to rely on Achiuwa to be the No. 2 glass cleaner alongside Isaiah Hartenstein to no avail. His season average wasn’t bad at 6.6 per contest but against more lengthy opponents like the Pacers, Achiuwa couldn’t overcome the deficit and help the team earn second chances that could have carried them through the arduous series where rebounding determined the winner each game. 

While he did a nice job of filling in and growing into a tough defensive player in the Knicks system, there isn’t enough overall value to entice them to commit to Achiuwa long-term. New York is also committed to Robinson and set to offer an early bird rights contract to Hartenstein in the offseason, meaning the restricted free agent in Achiuwa could look for a new home that’ll offer him minutes and slightly more money and the Knicks can address his hole in the draft. 

3. Shake Milton

The Knicks signed Shake Milton off the open market after he was released by Detroit in early March. A shooting guard with some experience playing good minutes for playoff teams, the thought was that Milton would bolster the guard spots that were being tested by injuries and demanded to play extra minutes in additional positions. 

In the end, Milton never saw a regular place in the rotation and only appeared in six games this season, most of which were in cleanup minutes for the Knicks. It’s uncertain whether he was a bad fit for the team’s system or didn’t impress in some initial minutes, but the eight-year veteran never saw more than 15 minutes and seven points in any game he took the floor for the orange and blue. 

It didn’t help Milton’s case that the Knicks found the emergence of Miles McBride, who stepped up to become Tom Thibodeau’s dual threat option at both the point and shooting guard spots. McBride earned a career-high 14 starts and jumped his scoring from averaging 3.5 points in 2022 to 8.3 on 45.7% shooting in the 2023 season. 

McBride is set to return with the Villanova guards and battle to be one of the second unit guards that can shoot well from all over the court. If he can keep up his 41% efficiency from behind the arc and continue developing his skills as a defender, the Knicks will have themselves a solid backcourt to lead the way and the focus can be on strengthening the front court and the interior for next season and beyond. 

None of that bodes well for Milton. Expect him to be taking his services to another beleaguered team in the 2024 campaign. 

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This article was originally published on empirewritesback.com as 3 Knicks Who Won’t Return for the 2024 Season.

2024-05-23T12:10:49Z dg43tfdfdgfd