Obi's Droppin'? Knicks Could Struggle to Give Toppin Minutes
With all the hullaballoo around the New York Knicks' newcomers, the team is on pace to bring back several veterans (provided, of course, they're not shipped to Utah), many of whom have endeared themselves to fans in various ways.
But with the Knicks having struggled to maintain any sort of consistent progress, the returns come with the caveat of a potential make-or-break season attached. That certainly applies to head coach Tom Thibodeau as he enters year four at the helm. RJ Barrett undoubtedly has an NBA future, but time will tell if it's in New York.
Then there's the case of Obi Toppin: a Brooklyn native chosen eighth overall in the 2020 draft, Toppin has made an impression through his Slam Dunk Contest appearances (winning the most recent edition in 2022) but has only 10 starts (134 games total) to his NBA name, averaging 6.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in just over 14 minutes a contest.
Could Toppin see his role increase in year three as the Knicks try to return to the playoffs? According to Fred Katz of The Athletic ... don't count on it.
Katz began the offseason optimistic that Toppin could earn 25 minutes a night, but the Knicks' offseason moves in the post ... namely re-upping with Mitchell Robinson and Jericho Sims while welcoming in Isaiah Hartenstein ... will make it hard to carve a role for himself. Before those moves, going guard-heavy and pairing Toppin with Julius Randle could've been an options. Knicks management appeared to feel otherwise.
This comes after Toppin ended his year on a strong note, as he averaged 27.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in an expanded opportunity when all was lost (over 37 minutes a game). That included consecutive career-best scoring outings to end the year in April, putting in 35 in Washington before upping it to 42 in a season-ending win at Madison Square Garden over Toronto. That, apparently, wasn't enough to widen his metropolitan horizons.
"I’m guessing Toppin is in a similar role to what he was in 2021-22," Katz says, referencing a year that saw Toppin average just over 17 minutes a game. "We can’t say it’s solely Thibodeau’s doing anymore, either. The front office watched how last season went down, saw him get hot in the spring and still put together a roster that doesn’t leave much daylight for him."
It's possible, of course, that Toppin is cast off in the long-fabled Donovan Mitchell trade. The Knicks have been protective of Quentin Grimes but recent reports have hinted that they'd be open to parting ways with 2020's No. 8 man.
