There is a person Knick continue to enjoying aggressive basketball: 2021 second-round decide on Rokas Jokubaitis.
The lefty issue guard, who performs for Barcelona, will struggle in the EuroLeague Last 4 that begins Thursday in Belgrade, Serbia.
The Knicks will send out scouts to the EuroLeague Last 4 to watch Jokubaitis — amid others — even as the NBA Draft Merge commences in Chicago.
Barcelona will facial area True Madrid in one particular sport whilst Olympiacos can take on Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the other matchup.
Jokubaitis has played perfectly this season — specifically with his 3-level shooting — in his initially season in the vaunted Spanish League.
Regardless of his progress, The Submit has acquired the Knicks are closely leaning toward letting him continue to be in Spain for subsequent time. That would give the 21-calendar year-aged Lithuanian a further 12 months to polish his recreation and get more robust.
In addition, the Knicks also could have cap space in 2023 with all their expiring contracts because of up, offering them versatility to offer you him extra than the $1 million minimal for second-spherical picks.
If they signed Jokubaitis this summer, the Knicks would have to consume into their $10 million mid-amount exception to give Jokubaitis extra than bare minimum wage.
And since of the expiring contracts to player these types of as Alec Burks and Derrick Rose, the 2023-24 roster will have extra area.
In 35 EuroLeague video games, Jokubaitis came off the bench, averaging 17 minutes and 7.2 factors. However, he shot a sensational 59.5 p.c on 3-level shots (the distance is nearer than NBA length). He also dished out 2.8 assists per sport compared to 1.8 turnovers.
Jokubaitis had quite related stats in 31 game titles in the Spanish League, also taking part in 17 minutes, but shot at a lesser-but-nonetheless-solid clip of 43 per cent from 3.
Another problem is Barcelona is not anticipated to enable Jokubaitis to enjoy for the Knicks all through the Las Vegas summer months league. Barcelona already will be owed a buyout if he plays in the NBA. Past August, Jokubaitis played in three summertime league game titles and the Knicks ended up content with his ball-handling, basketball IQ and tenacity as a defender.
The Knicks took Jokubaitis 34th in the draft, a person slot in advance of New Orleans stud defensive modest forward Herb Jones. The Knicks had the means to gamble on a “Euro-stash” player simply because they also had the 36th pick and took point guard Miles McBride. Ironically, Jones and McBride are second cousins.
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