The Knicks’ frontcourt depth has taken another hit, and Trey Jemison III suddenly looks like a name worth circling again.
New York spent the summer trying to patch together its big-man rotation after losing Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti in free agency. That left Karl-Anthony Towns with thinner insurance behind him, and the situation got shakier when Jemison - who had joined Toronto on a two-way deal in early August - landed on the waiver wire Wednesday.
Jemison only got into one preseason game for the Raptors, but he made the most of it in a small sample, collecting six rebounds and one assist in eight minutes against the Clippers. Toronto moved on after a hand injury, and that opens the door for a possible reunion with the Knicks.
For New York, the appeal is pretty simple: Jemison is familiar, still has two-way eligibility for this season and gives the organization another usable body in the middle. The Knicks already have 15-year veteran Andre Drummond behind Towns, but they can still add one more player on a veteran minimum contract, and that slot appears likely to go to a center. James Wiseman is viewed as the frontrunner there over Bruce Brown, Drew Eubanks and Tony Bradley, with Bradley now dealing with a hamstring injury from New York’s latest preseason game.
Even if the Knicks settle the veteran-minimum spot with another center, there’s still a case for bringing Jemison back on a two-way. Tyler Nickel, Kevin McCullar Jr and Jaden Akins currently hold those three two-way spots, and one would have to be waived to make room. But New York isn’t locked into keeping any of them, since those deals are non-guaranteed, and such a move would not impact the cap sheet.
It’s also not as if Jemison would be short on interest. The Kings, Lakers and especially the Sixers could all make sense as landing spots for a team looking for frontcourt help, with Philadelphia standing out because it has an open two-way slot and needs another big after the season-ending Achilles injury suffered by Hukporti.
Jemison’s name has been around the Knicks before. He was absent from the team’s Summer League group, but he was around for the club’s ESPYs appearance and is clearly well liked internally. That familiarity could matter if New York wants to avoid a trade and simply patch the center spot with a player it already knows.
Because he was on a two-way contract, Jemison wasn’t postseason-eligible, but he did have some useful stretches during the year. He split time between the NBA club and Westchester, where he averaged 8.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 31 games.
Over three NBA seasons, Jemison has played in 76 regular-season games for the Wizards, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Lakers and Knicks. His game is built on rebounding, screening and physical play around the rim. He’s not a shutdown defender, but he moves well enough and stays active.
It wouldn’t be the flashiest addition. It wouldn’t change the conversation overnight. But if the Knicks are serious about surviving an 82-game season with enough size on hand, Jemison is exactly the kind of practical move that makes sense.
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For a second unit that still needs to sharpen its overall defense, that sort of stabilizing voice could matter more than the box score suggests. Brown views Drummond as a possible organizer on that end, and the real question now is how clearly that role gets defined once the games start counting and how quickly his impact shows up in the regular season. [Read more 🡒]