The Knicks will sign Seton Hall’s Myles Powell

The Knicks are looking to Jersey for some scoring help in undrafted free agency.

After taking Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley in the first round, the Knicks traded away their recently-acquired pick 33 to the Clippers for a future second rounder. Today, the Knicks got themselves a guy who had a second round grade by many: Seton Hall’s Myles Powell.

A four-year player at Hall, Powell probably could’ve been a second round pick last year after averaging 23.1 points, four rebounds, and 2.9 assists on .447/.363/.840 shooting splits. As it were, he wound up going back to Hall for his senior season to try to pursue a national title, which, unfortunately, was all for naught thanks to COVID-19.

This season, Powell saw a dip in scoring as well as efficiency — 21 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists, on .398/.306/.795 splits — but that wasn’t entirely on him. Seton Hall relied on him to basically be the first, second, and third option most nights, and as a result, he drew tons of double- and even triple-teams.

I also had the pleasure of covering Powell at Trenton Catholic Academy, where he played his sophomore and junior years of high school a number of years ago. He was honestly not the most explosive athlete, and I really wondered what he was going to offer at Seton Hall other than pure shooting.

As it turned out, he completely transformed his body and really maximized what his small stature for a guard would allow him to do, eventually becoming the primary engine of a top 25 program in the nation.

It looks as if Powell will be signed to an Exhibit 10 contract, which would allow him to either be paid a significant bonus to join the Westchester Knicks (although their season is in doubt due to COVID), or, presumably, sign a two-way deal with the Knicks after camp. I guess we’ll see!