NEW York knicks: Will Kolek be in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation? #nba #newyorkknicks

The New York Knicks have had a busy offseason. Trading for Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges, the Knicks made a big move to bolster their starting lineup. Now filling out their depth, the Knicks have officially announced the free agency signing of nine-year NBA veteran Cameron Payne.

"The New York Knicks announced today that the team has signed Cam Payne," the Knicks wrote on Monday. "Payne, 29-years-old (6-3, 183-pounds), averaged 7.4 points, 2.6 assists and 1.5 rebounds over 16.7 minutes in 78 games (10 starts) last season with Milwaukee and Philadelphia. After being traded to Philadelphia on Feb. 8, Payne posted 9.3 points, 3.1 assists and 1.8 rebounds over 19.4 minutes in 31 games (eight starts)." In his nine NBA seasons, Payne has played for the OKC Thunder, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers. The Knicks added the following details on Payne's NBA career, including his performance against New York in last year's playoffs:

"In five games against the Knicks in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Payne recorded 5.6 points, 1.4 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 12.2 minutes, including 11 points, three assists and two blocks in Game 3. The nine-year vet has played in 405 NBA career games (66 starts) with Oklahoma City, Chicago, Cleveland, Phoenix, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. He holds career averages of 7.9 points, 3.3 assists and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 36.9-percent from three-point range."

What do you think the Cam Payne deal represents and do you think there’s gonna be a move with Miles McBride or possibly a multi-team deal ? - @jayp00_

Thanks for the question, Jay. I’d like to start here with my answer: in our video Mailbag earlier this week, I took a question from @EvanWecksell (4:51 mark) about Cam Payne. I said I thought Payne would get significant minutes next season. Turns out that, based on current rotation projections, I was wrong. Before we get to that, I just want to touch on my answer in the Mailbag. I thought Payne would get rotation minutes off the Knick bench because I knew they had interest in Tyus Jones. Jones would obviously get significant minutes with the Knicks if he’d signed here. So I assumed that the Knicks had a similar plan for Payne. That assumption was wrong.

This is where things stand with the projected rotation coming out of Summer League: Rookie Tyler Kolek is currently the backup point guard, ahead of Payne, per people familiar with the matter. The Knicks were thrilled to get Payne last week. (He signed for a veteran’s minimum deal.) At the moment, he is viewed as the third lead guard behind Kolek, who had a very strong Summer League.

Will Kolek be in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation? I don’t know the answer to that question. You can certainly pencil in Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart and the Knicks’ yet-to-be-named backup center into Thibodeau’s rotation. Based on current projections after the Payne signing, Miles McBride is in the Knicks’ regular rotation. So to play Kolek, Thibodeau would need to expand his rotation to 10 players.

To be clear: the above is based on where things stand coming out of Summer League. This can obviously change based on player performance during training camp/preseason.

On the backup center spot, the Knicks have remained in regular contact with free agent Precious Achiuwa. Achiuwa has drawn interest from opposing teams, including some contenders.