Knicks Summer League preview: 10 young players who are hoping to impress in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS

There is no Kristaps Porzingis, a 7-3 mystery from Latvia, for the Knicks to unveil at the Las Vegas Summer League this week. There is not even Kevin Knox to dim hopes (Zion Williamson ripped a ball from his hands and seemingly triggered an earthquake at the Thomas and Mack Center).

So for the Knicks and their fans, the summer league roster and games have a little different meaning this time around, perhaps lower expectations and a lower bar.

There is a first-round pick, but it was last summer’s — Pacome Dadiet — who got little chance to show anything beyond the summer as a 19-year-old. The Wizards will have seven first-round picks from the last two drafts on their summer roster. The Nets will have five from this draft alone.

Instead it will be players from the far end of the bench last season and an assortment of intriguing (if unheralded) prospects, trying to find a way to catch the eyes of the front office as well as newly minted head coach Mike Brown and his still-being-formed staff.

And maybe the opportunities will be hard to come by this time, too, once the summer league is over. As of right now, the Knicks have the top seven players from last season’s team back, all healthy, and the front office already has added two bargain-priced rotation pieces to the squad, with room for another veteran to join the team before training camp.

Part of the edict for the new staff, and a reason that some in the organization were pushing for a coaching change, was to develop and utilize players further down the roster. While measuring the playing time of the likes of second-rounders Tyler Kolek and Ariel Hukporti against an Eastern Conference finals appearance may seem like a losing argument, it was one that Tom Thibodeau lost somehow.

That means that Brown, with the much-hyped collaboration with the front office, will need to stretch the rotation and find ways to utilize the bench. But if the Knicks already are nine deep before adding another veteran, barring injuries, those minutes will be hard to find. So the showcase begins this week with much more on the line for these players than the summer league standings.

The holdovers

Dadiet, Kolek, Hukporti and Kevin McCullar

All four were on the roster last season, but you’d hardly know it — unless you were scrolling Knicks Twitter and watching the posts spin like a slot machine with cries for the rookies to get more playing time.

To be fair, some of it was to provide a breather to the starters — although the Knicks held up healthier than almost any other team in the NBA last season and you win games on the shoulders of your best players — but there also was the backup quarterback syndrome. Fans always want to see the young players on the bench in an attempt to find a diamond in the rough ready to emerge.

Hukporti, the last player taken in the 2024 NBA Draft, actually got more important minutes than any of the other rookies, partially because of injuries in front of him but also because having played professionally overseas and already 23, he was ready before the others.

Take McCullers out of the mix because he spent most of the season rehabilitating a knee injury he brought along with him from college, but Dadiet was always a project for down the road and Kolek, while possessing innate point guard skills, needed time to find a way to defend better.

Kolek played 41 games in the regular season, nearly as many as the other three rookies combined. He and Hukporti, with their playing time and age, should be able to dominate games in Vegas.

Dadiet might be the most intriguing of the holdovers, already showing glimpses of natural scoring ability last season and with a frame that projects to grow stronger as he ages.

The second-rounders

Mohamed Diawara and James Nnaji

Diawara was the Knicks’ pick at No. 51 two weeks ago — their only pick in the draft — and might seem like a draft-and-stash option. But the Knicks have room for two additions to the roster, one a veteran minimum deal for an established NBA player and another for a player either on a second-round exception or one with no more than one year of NBA experience. That brings Nnaji into the picture, too.

Diawara, a teammate of Dadiet’s in France, has intriguing size and defensive potential but has a long way to go to contribute offensively. If the Knicks need another big, it could be the athletic Nnaji, a second-round pick of the Hornets (in a trade from Detroit) two years ago who remained overseas and was obtained in the deal that brought Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks.

McCullar is another possibility for this contract slot.

Mystery men

Dink Pate, Luka Skuka and Yudai Baba

Pate is intriguing, passing on college offers as the 30th-ranked prospect by ESPN and instead joining the G League Ignite two years ago. Skuka is a 6-10 forward from Slovenia. Baba is a 6-5 guard from Japan who has played in three separate stints with the Texas Legends of the G League.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.