Knicks' Ariel Hukporti Begins Three-Point Journey

These days, Brook Lopez is riding the pine for the Los Angeles Clippers during the home stretch of his eighteen-year run in the Association. The 37-year-old won an NBA Championship with the Bucks in 2021, still sits atop the Nets franchise scoring list and became one of the league’s most interesting test studies in transformation, which New York Knicks big man Ariel Hukporti could potentially take some inspiration from.

For the first eight years of his career, Lopez attempted just 31 three-pointers, hitting three of them. Then coach Kenny Atkinson came to town, and the Nets decided to let the seven-foot Stanford graduate heave up 387 3-pointers in a lost season. He only shot 34.6% but over time became one of the league’s most effective stretch fives.

There’s nothing like simulating in-game repetitions. Sometimes it can take place during a tanking Brooklyn season, or it might happen in the G-League. The development league is meant for prioritizing giving young talent game reps and pushing their boundaries to see what tools can be unlocked.

Oct 24, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Ariel Hukporti (55) warms up before the game against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Hukporti's Starting to Test the Waters from Three-Point Range

The Knicks' G-League affiliate in Westchester is 1-11. But wins and losses don’t matter. The Knicks, meanwhile, are 17-7 and focused on crossing the finish line of the regular season with the first seed. On most nights, Hukporti is stapled to the bench until maybe the last hundreds of seconds when coach Mike Brown waives the white flag in blowouts.

The young center had previously never shot a three-pointer in a game in any type of game action for the Knicks. Be it during Summer League, previous assignments to Westchester and in 41 games for the big club. Hukporti has only been seen taking the shot during warmups. Earlier this week in Westchester, however, that changed.

The 58th pick of the 2024 NBA draft got up four long balls. He missed them all, but that’s the beauty of the NBA’s minor league. The shooting motion looked good and Hukporti shinned in other areas by chipping in 21 points, 11 boards and 4 blocks in a 20-point loss to the Long Island Nets.

This comes off the heels of arguably Hukporti’s most impactful game during his young career in New York. In the Knicks' 106-100 victory over Orlando last weekend, the German native scored 6 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, had 3 blocks, dished out 2 assists and even collected a steal across 23 minutes.

The 23-year-old was awarded defensive player of the game for the second time in a week by Brown, who had high praise for the seldom used former second round pick.

“I’ve been in the league a long time and I told him this, one of your superpowers is how fast you are,” Brown told SI Now. “He’s one of the fastest bigs that I’ve ever been around, both directions and what he has to remember is he’s not going to play long stretches so use your superpowers as much as you can.”

The seven-foot, 250-pound big man brings an edge and runs the floor like a deer. He provides strong rim protection, is soft around the rim and has a floater in his bag. He plays with a ton of energy and impacts games without scoring. He leads the Knicks in defensive field goal percentage at 33.9% and is in the league’s 97% percentile for block frequency.

By no means is Hukporti a finished project. He’s been playing with grown men dating back to starting his pro career as a 16-year-old in Germany for Risen Ludwigsburg. But he tore his Achillies right before the start of the 2022-23 season while playing in Melbournce in the Australian National Basketball League. He missed the last half of last season after tearing the meniscus.

There are signs of Hukporti having the tools to be a quality rotational big in the league for a long time. This shooting develop adds even more intrigue to his status as a rising prospect. Making the transformation took Lopez thousands of hours and countless practice shots but it needs to start somewhere.

Make sure you bookmark Knicks on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!