{"id":285602,"date":"2025-09-15T22:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/285602\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T22:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:40:09","slug":"dennis-smith-jr-wants-to-return-to-nba-gets-tryout-with-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/285602\/","title":{"rendered":"Dennis Smith Jr. Wants To Return To NBA, Gets Tryout With Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks<\/a> have been pretty busy over the last few days, adding a trio of players. Could the Knicks<\/a> add a 2017 top 10 draft pick<\/a> to their ledger?<\/p>\n

Dennis Smith Jr. Wants To Return To NBA, Gets Tryout With Knicks<\/p>\n

According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post<\/a>, Dennis Smith Jr.<\/a> will work out for the Knicks sometime this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Knicks are bringing in a familiar point guard. Dennis Smith Jr.<\/a> is working out for the Knicks this week,\u201d Bondy tweeted last night. \u201cThe former lottery pick hopes for an NBA return after playing last season at Real Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith Jr.\u2019s star quickly dissipated after being selected with the No. 9 overall selection in 2017, after one season at NC State,<\/a> though he was out of the league altogether last season. The 27-year-old had a solid rookie season, finishing fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting. He was having a good sophomore campaign with the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> before getting traded to the Knicks at the end of January in 2019.<\/p>\n

Smith Jr. Gets Another Chance With Knicks<\/p>\n

Smith Jr. was part of the package that brought DeAndre Jordan<\/a> and Wesley Matthews<\/a> to New York for Trey Burke<\/a>, Tim Hardaway Jr.<\/a>, Courtney Lee<\/a>, and Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is<\/a>. The Knicks also received a 2021 1st-round draft pick (Keon Johnson) and a 2024 1st-round\u00a0draft pick (Kyshawn George<\/a>). The Knicks dealt Johnson and George before either player ever suited up for the team.<\/p>\n

Smith Jr. spent parts of three seasons in the Big Apple, though he only appeared in 58 games. The Knicks sent him to Detroit in February 2021, along with a 2021 second-round draft pick (Isaiah Livers<\/a>), for Derrick Rose<\/a>. Smith Jr. was part of the rotation in Portland, Charlotte, and Brooklyn from 2021-2024, though he only saw action in 147 contests of the 246 possible games.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn released Smith Jr. in July 2024. He ultimately signed with Spanish club Real Madrid in January 15, 2025. He only saw 35 minutes over four appearances for Madrid before leaving the club in 2025.<\/p>\n

For his career, Smith Jr. averages 9.7 points, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.9 turnovers. He has also compiled a shooting split of 43.5\/29.8\/67.4.<\/p>\n

Smith Jr. is a below-average NBA player who has struggled to remain in the Association despite his elite athleticism, largely due to his poor shooting and shot selection. The 6-3 point guard is at his best when getting to the basket, but is not a good finisher and doesn\u2019t get to the free-throw line a ton. A strong facilitator and ball handler, Smith has also improved as an individual defender, turning himself into a high-level on-ball defender and decision-maker throughout his career. However, conditioning has been an issue for him.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/p>\n

Even if Smith Jr. impresses the Knicks during his workout, there are many obstacles in the way for him to earn a standard contract. However, he could get a training camp deal.<\/p>\n

New York has 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts and is up against the first apron, where they are hard-capped. The Knicks also have three players on non-guaranteed deals \u2014 Malcolm Brogdon<\/a>, Landry Shamet,<\/a> and Garrison Matthews<\/a>. Brogdon and Shamet are expected to be the favorites to land the Knicks\u2019 final veteran spot<\/a>, unless they make a trade to dump salary.<\/p>\n

In that case, Brogdon\u2019s deal is likely to be guaranteed, as the Knicks have reportedly been looking for a veteran point guard. Brogdon is a better scorer, shooter, and facilitator than Smith. That would conceivably leave Shamet and Mathews to fight for the other veteran spot. Mohamad Diawara<\/a> is projected to secure the Knicks\u2019 14th and final roster spot, as he can sign for the second-round exception.<\/p>\n

Saying all that doesn\u2019t mean the workout can\u2019t be fruitful for Smith Jr. If Smith Jr. impresses, he could get a training camp invite and show other teams that he can be a valuable member of a team. Or head to Westchester, the Knicks\u2019 G League\u00a0affiliate<\/a>, and try to earn a standard deal or a 10-day contract with the Knicks or another team.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Neville E. Guard, Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks have been pretty busy over the last few days, adding a trio of players.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[22994,7,17945,4988,2729,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-285602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-2025-nba-free-agents","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-dennis-smith-jr","11":"tag-landry-shamet","12":"tag-malcolm-brogdon","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115210723327118821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}