When the New York Knicks won their first two NBA Championships in 1970 and 1973, NBA free agency didn’t exist yet. Oscar Robertson’s infamous, and influential, lawsuit against the league didn’t take place until 1976. And true unrestricted free agency didn’t begin in earnest until 1988. Previously, the league required teams to compensate other teams for signing their players away — making every “free agency” transaction a sign-and-trade.
That means Andre Drummond is the first free agent in NBA history to sign with the reigning-champion Knicks. It also makes Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti the first free agents to depart them.
On Tuesday, former New York two-way player Dillon Jones signed a training camp contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Knicks already lost Hukporti to the Sixers, who was the second center of theirs to depart for a rival in the Atlantic Division in the wake of their title victory. Robinson, who shipped up to the Boston Celtics, was the first. They also saw former two-way player Trey Jemison III leave for the Toronto Raptors, another in-division squad, in early August.
Do the Knicks have other plans for their two-way contracts?
With Robinson and Hukporti both gone, and only Drummond signed in their absences, New York is expected to allow a training camp battle to determine the recipient of their final roster spot. Leon Rose’s front office also has all three of their two-way spots available. They’re the only group in the NBA that can say that at this point in the offseason.
With Jones and Jemison III headed elsewhere, the only player with a chance to return as a two-way player on the Knicks is Kevin McCullar Jr. The 25-year-old wing was nowhere to be found at this year’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, despite no reports of any injury to the reigning champion.
Second-round draft pick Tyler Nickel out of Vanderbilt still doesn’t have a contract, either. He would instantly become a prime candidate for one of the Knicks’ two-way slots, if the team decides to use their final regular roster spot on a third big man. If not, they could end up giving Nickel that spot — and continuing their position battle into the season among centers on two-way deals.
One way or another, the Knicks are going to need some more depth behind Drummond and Karl-Anthony Towns. The hope is obviously that that player will not need to play much next season, as the team looks to defend their title from the 29 other squads looking to knock them out of first place as both Cup and Playoff champions.
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