Ochai Agbaji Has Potential With Knicks Even as Roster Long Shot

Arguably the smallest veteran name the Knicks signed this week was Ochai Agbaji. Once a college standout and lottery pick, Agbaji has failed to make good on the high hopes for him to begin his NBA career.

However, while the deck may be stacked against Agbaji to make the roster, he brings enough interesting things to the table that could interest New York if all goes well.

Ochai Agbaji will to win Knicks over by thriving in a specific role

Despite Agbaji entering the 2022 draft a consensus All-American, Big 12 Player of the Year and NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, the NBA was unsure enough about him that he fell to Cleveland with the 14th pick.

The Cavaliers were unsure enough to trade him before he played a game for them, to the Jazz as part of the Donovan Mitchell dowry. The Jazz, a team not trying to win, played Agbaji less and less, then traded him to the Raptors, a team about to miss the playoffs for the fourth year in five.

Last year, Agbaji was a starter for Brooklyn the one and only month they won games, for which he was sent to the bench and ultimately a series of DNP-CDs as the Nets embarked on an all-out tanking blitz.

Agbaji isn't young anymore, not at 26. He’s not some project with freakish size or athleticism. Just someone 6-foot-5 who defends, doesn’t need the ball, isn’t looking for big or even steady minutes and who shot 40% from deep the last time he played regularly, two years ago.

Abgaji could essentially replace Jeremy Sochan, another low-usage depth defender, only with the added benefit that Agbaji (career 34% shooter from 3) isn't someone defenses can entirely ignore beyond the arc. End-of-the-bench players aren’t often seen as difference-makers, but if one or two regulars miss enough games the little differences can really add up.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond both shoot threes, and any lineup without them is by definition five-out. When the Knicks went five-out in last year’s playoffs, they reached a level of play no one could stop.

If OG Anunoby were to miss some time and Sochan took his place last season, that’s a weak link in the chain. Defenses can make the game 5-on-4, leaving Sochan to take three or the other Knicks to take more highly-contested looks; either way, the defense gets what it wants. Agbaji would preserve some of the spacing New York’s offense needs to dictate the action.

And the title defense may in no small part come down to how many of the titlists are left to defend it. Josh Hart is now 30, as is the indestructible Mikal Bridges. Anunoby turns 30 next summer. Each played major minutes the past two regular-seasons and postseasons.

Mike Brown showed last season he understands the value of spreading the minutes games 1-82, so that come Game 83 the starters are ready to roll and the reserves have enough experience under their belt to make the minutes they do play productive.

Agbaji certainly comes with fresher legs at 26, compared to most of New York's roster, which makes him someone Brown could lean on to keep his starters well-rested. He's surely highly motivated to prove all of the franchises that neglected him wrong as well.

If Agbaji is a Knickerbocker come opening night, it won’t matter why four losing teams were unsure about him. A place with the reigning—and motivated—champions, no matter how small his role, brings visibility and opportunity unlike any he’s known. Of that he can be certain.

Get Knicks On SI straight to your inbox: sign up for our free newsletter here.

Add us as a preferred source on Google