This move has as much to do with the Knicks’ salary cap situation as it does his game, but rookie Ariel Hukporti won’t worry — he’s getting a guaranteed NBA contract.
The Knicks are converting Hukporti – the No. 58 pick in the NBA draft last June – from a two-way contract to a standard NBA rookie contract, story broken by Shams Charania of The Football Club.
The 7-foot German center (who played for Melbourne United in the NBL last season) has the physical build of an NBA center but a lot of work to do on his offensive touch and game — which is why a two-way contract made sense for him (and he’ll likely spend part of this year in the G-League anyway). This season he has played 29 minutes through four games, all mostly in garbage time, has yet to score a point but has grabbed seven rebounds.
Signing Hukporti to a standard contract is more about finance than anything else.
The day before the season, the Knicks waived the injured Landry Shamet, plus Chuma Okeke and TJ Warren, bringing their roster down to 12 players to start the season. The team has a deadline of November 5 to acquire up to 14 players, according to the terms of the CBA.
However, that CBA also hard cap the Knicks at the second tax apron and the team is only $3.58 million below that line – they did not have the money to go and sign two veteran minimum players to fill those roster spots. The Knicks can sign one veteran (maybe Shamet if healthy, maybe someone else) and promote one of their two-way players, which is what they did with Hukporti.
Whatever the circumstances, it’s a real opportunity for the rookie, we’ll see what he does with it.
