Dennis Smith Jr’s experiment has yet to work for the New York Knicks, and has apparently been almost even demoted to Westchester.
Marc Berman of the New York Post reported Tuesday that former Knicks player development director Craig Robinson had begged team management to send Smith to the G-League in an effort to relieve him. Chief Executive Scott Perry ultimately resisted this idea.
Smith, the 22-year-old former lottery winner, arrived in New York in January 2019 as part of the Kristaps Porzingis exchange. He has since played a minimal role for the team, making only 34 appearances for them this season, and sitting behind Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntilikina in the depth rankings.
Although Smith’s skillset isn’t particularly compatible with Tom Thibodeau, the new Knicks manager, Thibodeau has historically done well in getting better production from the point guard position, as Berman notes. However, the team’s resource investment in Smith has yet to pay dividends, so next season may be Smith’s last chance to prove his worth in New York.