The Knicks re-signed Cleanthony Early, will send him to the D-League

This was a bit unexpected:

I figured, especially considering his injury, Cleanthony Early would be taking the year off after no team invited him to training camp. But he’s back with the Knicks, and as Shams says, will likely head to Westchester.

Look, this isn’t gonna move the needle one way or another. Cle’s career averages are 4.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in just over 14 minutes per game. He’s not very good at basketball. But he seems like a cool guy, he’s been with New York for his entire career, and he has at least some familiarity with the system (even though he was limited to 17 games last season due mostly to having been shot in the knee in the midst of being robbed late last year).

Between Early and Damien Inglis, it seems like the Knicks want to fill out their D-League roster with guys they know already. That’s a logical, if slightly unexciting, mindset. Regardless, welcome back Cle!

EDIT: There’s this, too, which makes sense:

There’s some confusion about what this means, exactly. I assume the Knicks do not plan on assigning him to the D-League from the NBA roster, but instead want to send him directly to the W-Knicks. We’ll update with a concrete answer if we get it.