{"id":88637,"date":"2025-06-10T08:36:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T08:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/88637\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T08:36:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T08:36:20","slug":"knicks-reportedly-unlikely-to-retain-free-agent-backup-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/88637\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks reportedly unlikely to retain free agent backup big"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/empiresportsmedia.com\/category\/new-york-knicks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New York Knicks;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New York Knicks<\/a> are expected to look a bit different next season. With Tom Thibodeau out as head coach, the team will have a different feel to it for the first time in several years.<\/p>\n<p>Knicks unlikely to bring back Precious Achiuwa next season<\/p>\n<p>However, one of their backup players who could\u2019ve gotten some more playing time with Thibodeau as head coach might not be with them next season. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsday.com\/sports\/columnists\/steve-popper\/knicks-coach-yxy13dbk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Newsday\u2019s Steve Popper;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Newsday\u2019s Steve Popper<\/a>, Precious Achiuwa is unlikely to return as he hits free agency.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Precious Achiuwa, Knicks, Warriors\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/4df170e029b04dc4c9323735f9f88e3f.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Achiuwa first came to the Knicks in late December of 2023, when he was a throw-in in the OG Anunoby trade. Achiuwa\u2019s minutes were very inconsistent during his Knicks tenure, but he stepped up whenever his number was called.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>After missing the early part of this past season with a hamstring strain, Achiuwa spent most of the season as the backup big. However, he lost his rotation spot upon Mitchell Robinson\u2019s return, and barely saw the court during the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Achiuwa will seek a different opportunity elsewhere<img alt=\"Dec 7, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks forward Precious Achiuwa (5) hangs on the rim after a dunk against the Detroit Pistons during the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/42081fdd7ffbdfe1ab40e482b7cb55a9.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>This season, he averaged 6.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 56 games. He had signed a one-year deal late last offseason to come back, and there was a possibility that he would see some action on the court after being a solid depth piece the season before.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, he didn\u2019t get the playing time he had hoped for under Thibodeau, and now he will seek a different opportunity elsewhere. The Knicks have the players to make up for his loss, with upcoming sophomores Pacome Dadiet and Ariel Hukporti ready to make an impact on the team.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks are expected to look a bit different next season. With Tom Thibodeau out as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[4990,7,304,1247,6,1136,191,3810,3806,5034,741,10745,1416],"class_list":{"0":"post-88637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-ariel-hukporti","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-mitchell-robinson","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-knicks","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkknicks","17":"tag-next-season","18":"tag-og-anunoby","19":"tag-precious-achiuwa","20":"tag-tom-thibodeau"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114658160403060632","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88637","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=88637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}