With the NBA season around the corner, the NBA G League season isn’t far behind. The Westchester Knicks will kick off their fourth season as the New York Knicks’ affiliate. If the past three years are any indication, there will be excitement in the air at the Westchester County Center.
On Sept. 21, the NBA G League announced the schedule for the Showcase. The Showcase gives players an opportunity to display their talents in front of NBA personnel and scouts.
During the event, each team will play two games (one home and one away). On Jan. 10, 2018, Westchester will face the Rio Grande Valley Vipers at 7 p.m. EST at the Mississauga SportZone. This game will be the Dub Knicks “home” game. In their previous two meetings, the Knicks are 1-1 against the Vipers.
With all 26 teams in the same city for four days, this will give each team an opportunity to match up with an opponent they wouldn’t have a chance to face during the regular season. On Jan. 12, Westchester will take on the Agua Caliente Clippers at the Hershey Centre at 6 p.m. EST.
Only one Westchester Knicks alumni, Von Wafer, competed professionally during the summer. Wafer played a huge role for the Shaanxi Wolves, as the team compiled a 21-5 record in the Chinese NBL. In 21 games, Wafer averaged 33.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals per game on 58% from the field and 49% from deep. After finishing the season as the No. 1 seed, Shaanxi won six straight games en route to the Chinese NBL Finals.
On Aug. 26, Wafer signed with Jilin Tigers in China, per David Pick.
On Sept. 25, the Atlanta Hawks announced the signing of John Jenkins. Over the course of his career, Jenkins has played in 145 games in The Association with the Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. The 5-year NBA veteran was selected by Atlanta with the No. 23 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.
The Vanderbilt product most recently played in the NBA G League with the Westchester Knicks during the 2016-17 season. In 16 games with Westchester, he averaged 20.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 46% percent from the field.
With the minor league season approaching, the NBAGL Draft is less than a month away. The Draft will take place on Oct. 21. Westchester finished the 2016-17 season with a 19-31 record, which was tied with the Greensboro Swarm in the Atlantic Division. Only four teams finished last season with a worst record.
There are four rounds in the NBAGL Draft. Westchester owns a selection in each round. Despite owning a second round pick, the selection comes from the Canton Charge. The Dub Knicks traded Jordon Crawford and a third round pick (via Sioux Falls Skyforce) in exchange for Canton’s second round pick. In a separate trade, Westchester traded its own second round pick to the Grand Rapids Drive for Nikola Jovanovic. It’ll be interesting to see how they go about targeting talent this year.
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