Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
The focal points, lottery tickets, and fun stories.
The offseason can be long and unforgiving. It rings true in any sport.
With the
Knicks, even though it’s only been 43 days since the last time they took the floor, it feels significantly longer. It’ll be another 81 days until their first preseason game in Abu Dhabi on October 2.
In the meantime, we have Summer League.
There’s a good chance that not a single player on the Knicks’ Summer League roster is a key contributor to what hopes to be a championship contender at the World’s Most Famous Arena next season, but there exists a bevy of interesting young players that could occupy key depth spots, while other fight for two-way contracts and an NBA dream that seems so distant when you latch onto the back of a Summer League roster.
The Summer Knicks opened their likely five-game tenure in Las Vegas with a discouraging defeat at the hands of Ron Holland II and the Pistons, but are back in action at 5:30 tonight against the
Boston Celtics.
With four more games to go, let’s get to know the roster of guys that, at least for the summer, are all we've got.
The Sophomores
#4 Pacome Dadiet (F-France)
6-7, 210lb | Age: 19 | Draft: 2024-25th (NYK)
It’ll be a pivotal summer for the former first-round pick.
He’ll look to impress new head coach Mike Brown, who presumably will be more willing to play young players. If he shows more consistency with his jumper (31.9 3pt% in G-League), he’ll be closer to being ready for NBA minutes. Unlike with others, there’s not much urgency with Dadiet, who’s in the second year of a four-year rookie contract and was expected to be a long-term project.
#9 Kevin McCullar Jr. (F-Kansas)
6-6, 210lb | Age: 24 | Draft: 2024-56th (PHX, traded to NYK)
This will be a pivotal summer for McCullar, too, but for a different reason. He hasn’t gotten to play much basketball lately.
Since sustaining a season-ending knee injury prior to the 2024 NCAA Tournament that March, he has played a grand total of 18 games of basketball, nearly all in Westchester. With his age and injury history, he will need to make the most of this opportunity for the Knicks to roster him (reminder: he’s currently a restricted free agent).
#13 Tyler Kolek (G-Marquette)
6-1, 195lb | Age: 24 | Draft: 2024-34th (POR, traded to NYK)
Kolek might have the easiest path to playing time of the Summer Knicks, but he also has a lot to prove. We know he can be a ballhandler and distributor, but his scoring ability was inconsistent in the few opportunities he had with the big club. Can he create his own shot consistently and show improvements on defense?
#55 Ariel Hukporti (C-Germany)
7-0, 246lb | Age: 24 | Draft: 2024-58th (DAL, traded to NYK)
Hukporti has the least to prove of the four. He got the most playing time of the 2024 draftees last year and has a limited role as a traditional big. Can we see more of that floater he flashed at times last year? Anything more than being a rim-protecting, rebounding, traditional big is a plus.
The Projects
#28 Dink Pate (G-Mexico City Capitanes)
6-8, 210lb | Age: 19 | Draft: UDFA (2025)
Pate is a wiry, wing-sized guard that was once a first-round prospect, but suffered from the failure known as G-League Ignite before being screwed out of last year’s draft. He signed an
Exhibit 10 deal after going undrafted.
In 2024-25 with Mexico City, another G-League team, he averaged 10.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 40.7% from the field and 25.8% from 3. He’s insistent on his three-ball, despite it just not falling. One sign of promise is that he shot well in the
preseason tip-off tournament (40.4% from 3). He’s probably worth a two-way, but he’ll have to show he’s worth it.
#46 James Nnaji (C-Nigeria)
7-0, 250lb | Age: 20 | Draft: 2023-31st (DET, traded to CHA)
Nnaji is coming over from Europe. The Eurostash was traded from Charlotte to New York in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and he appears willing to make it work in the States instead of a trial run like Rokas Jokubaitis in the past.
Nnaji has a big, filled-out frame and figures to be a significantly more raw Mitchell Robinson. Will he show enough to get the last roster spot or will he toil in Westchester on a two-way?
#51 Mohamed Diawara (F-France)
6-9, 225lb | Age: 20 | Draft: 2025-51st (LAC, traded to NYK)
Diawara is the latest Knicks’ draft pick. With a bevy of options available to sign the second-round exception, there remains a significant chance he’s stashed in Europe for another year.
In 2024-25, he averaged 5.8 points for Cholet Basket in the LNB Elite. He has traits, but figures to have a lot of stuff to work on. What kind of player does he want to be? A defensive specialist? A stretch four?
The Vets
#14 MarJon Beauchamp (F-Yakima Valley)
6-6, 199lb | Age: 24 | Draft: 2022-24th (MIL)
Beauchamp is the vet of the group. His 135 games of NBA experience across three seasons with three teams are by far the most of anyone on the roster. He spent the second half of 2024-25 on a two-way deal with the Knicks.
He figures to be the yearly “veteran who takes up shots with the kids”, despite being young himself. Think of Duane Washington Jr., the last two years. He’s still unsigned, so consider this an audition for another two-way.
#21 Anton Watson (F-Gonzaga)
6-8, 225lb | Age: 24 | Draft: 2024-54th (BOS)
Watson played nine games with the Knicks last season after signing a two-way contract on March 4. The Idaho native was an inside-the-arc role player with Gonzaga, shooting 63.6% from 2, but just 30.7% from 3. That archetype carried over into the G-League, as his splits were
eerily similar when he was with the Maine Celtics.
The Rest
#18 Yudai Baba (G-Japan)
6-6, 198lb | Age: 29 | Draft: UDFA (2017)
Baba is the oldest player on the team. He’s an NBL champion and B.League Finals MVP in Japan and Australia. He’s played three different stints with the G-League Texas Legends since 2019, most recently being a key player on their 2022-23 team, averaging 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds, shooting 40.8% from 3.
He can dunk.
Japanese star Yudai Baba will play for the Knicks in Summer League, according to the Japan's National Basketball Team
6'5" Baba, 29, has played in Summer League & G League several times, the Olympics & the NBL
He's known for his "Baba Boom" dunks
pic.twitter.com/7eBFs1QFOi
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork)
July 4, 2025
#26 Jamal Bey (G-Washington)
6-6, 210lb | Age: 24 | Draft: UDFA (2023)
Bey was a five-year player with Washington, peaking as a junior before he struggled with efficiency towards the end. He finished his collegiate career shooting just 38.2% from the field.
Bey joined the Westchester Knicks, where he’s played the last two seasons. In 33 games last year, he averaged 10.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists on 39% from the field and 36.3% from downtown.
#27 Biwali Bayles (G-Hawaii)
6-1, 180lb | Age: 23 | Draft: UDFA (2022)
Bayles is currently playing overseas with the Sydney Comets of NBL1 East.
He played one season, 2020-21, in college with Hawaii before electing to turn pro. In that season, he scored 6.2 points a game on 43.2% from deep. The 23-year-old has won two NBL titles as a role player.
The Knicks are bringing Australian guard Biwali Bayles to Summer League, per
@OlgunUluc
Bayles, 6'1 and 23 y/o, played one season of college basketball at Hawaii in 2020 before returning to Australia to win two NBL championships
pic.twitter.com/sv8IFLO1Qc
— The Strickland (@TheStrickland)
June 25, 2025
#29 Jaden Campbell (G-Samford)
6-5, 205lb | Age: 25 | Draft: UDFA (2024)
Campbell, an Ontario native, played three seasons with the Samford Bulldogs.
In his senior year in 2023-24, he was one of the best shooters in the Southern Conference, averaging 11.3 points and 3.2 rebounds on 53.6% from the field and 47.9% from downtown on 3.5 attempts a game.
He spent 2024-25 with USK Praha in the Czech Republic.
#30 Dae Dae Grant (G-Duquesne)
6-2, 185lb | Age: 24 | Draft: UDFA (2024)
Dae Dae was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 player and was the best player on the 2023-24 Duquesne team that made the NCAA Tournament, scoring 19 points in their historic first-round victory over
BYU.
He spent this past season with CB Breogan in Liga ACB in Spain, averaging 14.2 points a night.
#31 Nick Jourdain (F-Memphis)
6-8, 205lb | Age: 23 | Draft: UDFA (2025)
Jourdain is a Clifton, NJ native who split his five years in college with Temple and Memphis.
In 2024-25, he averaged 6.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists with 1.8 stocks as a full-time starter for the Tigers. His three-point shot was inconsistent all year, going 0-for-3 in Memphis’ first-round loss to Colorado State in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
#35 Luka Ščuka (F-Slovenia)
6-10 | Age: 23 | Draft: UDFA (2024)
The Knicks got Luka!!! Oh, wait. Wrong one.
Of all the guys in this section, Ščuka got the most meaningful playing time in Friday’s game, playing decent minutes in the first quarter. He spent four years with Cedevita Olimpija in Slovenia, winning two titles, before spending the 2024-25 season with Löwen Braunschweig in Germany.
#46 Lance Ware (F-UT Arlington)
6-9, 223lb | Age: 24 | Draft: UDFA (2025)
Ware is the
Villanova representation. Kinda.
Ware committed to Kentucky out of Camden, NJ in 2020, but struggled to find a consistent role there before transferring to Villanova for the 2023-24 season. After another disappointing campaign, he left the Power Five altogether for a full-time starting job in the WAC, where he posted averages of 13.4 points and 9.6 rebounds on 58.4% shooting for a 13-18 UT Arlington squad.
