The NBA Draft took place on Thursday and saw the New York Knicks draft forward R.J. Barrett out of Duke with the third overall choice. They also made a trade to move up to the 47th pick in the second round where they took forward Ignas Brazdeikis out of Michigan.
After the draft, teams scramble to sign players to two-way deals or to partially guaranteed contracts to help fill out the roster in the Summer League/preseason.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweeted that UCLA forward Kris Wilkes will be signing a two-way deal to join the Knicks. Sources told Shams Charania of The Athletic that guard/forward V.J. King and point guard Amir Hinton out of Shaw also have signed with New York, likely to partially guaranteed deals for next season.
Wilkes joins the Knicks after two seasons with the Bruins
Listed at 6-8, 215 lbs., Wilkes started all 33 of his appearances as a sophomore in 2018-19. He was named to the Second Team All-Pac 12 and decided to leave school early and declare for the NBA Draft.
He finished last season with averages of 17.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
On the season, he shot 43.3 percent from the field, 33.7 percent from three-point territory, and 67.1 percent from the charity stripe. He was able to reach double figures in scoring in every game except two.
As a freshman in 2017-18, Wilkes was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team during a season in which he posted averages of 13.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
Despite losing a lot of playing time last season, V.J. King left Louisville a year early
As a junior last season, King started just five of his 32 appearances for Louisville. That was one just a season after he started all 36 games. His minutes decreased from 25.4 a game in 2017-18 to just 13.7 in 2018-19.
King averaged just 3.9 points and three rebounds in 2018-19.
With much more playing time in 2017-18, he ended the season with averages of 8.6 points and 3.3 rebounds.
After shooting well from three as a freshman (16-38), he wasn’t as accurate as a sophomore and was mostly throwing up bricks as a junior. He ended last season connecting on just four of 35 three-point tries (11.4 percent).
Hinton proved to be an explosive scorer, albeit at the Division-II level
Like the two players previously mentioned, Hinton declared for the NBA Draft with a year of eligibility remaining but went undrafted.
Listed at 6-5, he played last season for Shaw University (a Division-II school) after spending the previous two seasons with Lock Haven University.
It turned out to be a dynamite one season with Shaw as he was named the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year while leading all Division-II players with a 29.4 scoring average.