A return to New York no longer looks like the likeliest path for Kevin McCullar Jr.
McCullar was one of a trio of young Knicks players who were missing from the team’s Summer League group in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, along with Trey Jemison III and Tyker Kolek. Kolek’s absence made sense, but McCullar and Jemison being left out stood out. Then Jemison signed a two-way contract with the Raptors earlier this week, and that only sharpened the speculation that McCullar could be headed elsewhere too.
The comparison gets stronger because both players were on two-way deals with New York last season and both were missing from the Vegas roster. Pacome Dadiet, meanwhile, did play for the Knicks in Summer League from the same draft class, which doesn’t exactly help McCullar’s case if you’re looking for signs of a reunion.
There’s also the question of health, because McCullar has already had his share of injury-related setbacks. Two summers ago, after the Knicks drafted him No. 56 overall, he sat out Summer League while recovering from an injury he suffered at Kansas.
At the time, he was coming off a strong senior season with the Jayhawks, averaging 18.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 26 games. He had been tracking toward All-American honors before a bone bruise in his right knee knocked him out for the final stretch of the season and the NCAA tournament.
That injury dropped him in the draft and kept him out of training camp. For months, there was no real update on his status, until he showed up in the G League in January. In 13 games for Westchester, he put up 11.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 27.8 minutes per game.
His rookie year barely got off the ground at the NBA level, where he logged only 29 minutes. Under Tom Thibodeau, that kind of usage for a young player was basically a redshirt season. Things changed once Mike Brown took over.
Brown trusted the younger players during the regular season, and McCullar got his best chance to make noise two days after Christmas in Atlanta. He came off the bench first, played a then-career-high 23 minutes and delivered 13 points, eight rebounds, four of them offensive, two steals and a 3-for-6 night from deep.
For a stretch, he looked like a Josh Hart-in-training and a player who could fit neatly into Brown’s system. But that momentum didn’t last. He topped 10 minutes only four more times the rest of the season, including the final game when the starters were all rested.
McCullar still got work in Westchester, appearing in 14 games for the Knicks’ G League affiliate and averaging 16.8 points and 6.2 assists while shooting 29.9% from three. In the NBA, he played 21 games and averaged 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.4 minutes, hitting 8 of 24 attempts from beyond the arc.
So the second year was useful, but not transformative. For a Knicks team now focused on defending a title, that may be part of why the door seems to be closing. New York’s current priorities could easily push the front office toward another direction.
There is still one small wrinkle: the Knicks are the only team in the NBA without a player signed to a two-way contract. That leaves a sliver of hope for anyone still holding out for McCullar’s return.
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