Kevin Knox will miss Summer League due to health and safety protocols

Kevin Knox, entering his fourth year in the NBA, was an unlikely addition to the Knicks’ Summer League squad the other day. It seemed odd, since usually Vegas is just filled with first- and second-year players, but it came out that Knox himself had asked to return to the scene of his greatest triumph to try to get some reps in.

Well, not so fast, apparently:

That really stinks for Knox. Say whatever you want about the results on the court at this point in his career, but he’s always seemed to work his ass off. This team is full of a ton of hard workers, and he’s never been any different.

So Knox wanting to go and humble himself by playing for the Summer League team kind of just underscored that even if a lot of people (maybe even including Tom Thibodeau) think this guy is done in the NBA, he definitely isn’t willing to close the chapter just yet at 22 years of age.

I’ll admit that my once-lofty expectations for Knox (I used to make Rashard Lewis ceiling comparisons on Locked On Knicks pretty often) have definitely been tamped down, but he did shoot 47% from the corners this year, good for the 86th percentile in the NBA, per Cleaning the Glass. There’s definitely an outline there for a Steve Novak-esque player that can do slightly more with the ball. Ultimately, it might just take some team with less to play for than the Knicks taking a chance on Knox and his remaining untapped potential, giving him a shot to prove himself once again.

At any rate, tough break for Knox, though the Knicks’ Summer League squad should still be a blast to watch with all four 2021 draft picks suiting up, as well as Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin.