The jury is still out on the New York Knicks this season. Head coach Tom Thibodeau's squad has played some good basketball, but whether they are genuine contenders for the championship is another question. Ariel Hukporti's injury will have put another dent in the Knicks' hopes, with Thibodeau desperately lacking size on his team.
The German rookie had just started to break into the side and rack up some important minutes from the bench. Hukporti even caught the eye and demonstrated why he could be a genuine rotation option for the Knicks in the future.
Mitchell Robinson's return, juxtaposed with Hukporti's injury, will give the Knicks a bit more balance, but it's clear more is needed. Perhaps Moses Brown will be the answer to the riddle, but it's clear that Knicks President of Basketball Operations Leon Rose isn't just thinking about this season but the bigger picture as well.
The Knicks' latest acquisition in MarJon Beauchamp is proof of that.
Under Estimate MarJon Beauchamp at your own peril
Time and time again, Beauchamp has been written off. This is a player who isn't supposed to be in the NBA. He didn't attend a D1 College as an amateur, yet he still became a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. He is a player who the Knicks have had their eyes on for some time, too. Before the 2022 NBA Draft, he had an individual workout with the Knicks and went out to dinner with Thibodeau and Rose, as per the New York Post.
In the end, it was the Bucks who drafted him as the 24th overall pick, and he's shown promise for them throughout his two and a half seasons with the team. In his first season alone as a rookie, Beauchamp scored 19 points against the Thunder and 20 points against the Hawks.
Beauchamp's numbers are impressive
During his G-League career, he has averaged over 21 points and 6.73 rebounds as well as 2.6 assists. Despite shooting only 38% from the field for the Bucks this season, he's proven to be a good shooter in the past. Last season, his average was 48%, and for the Clippers, in the brief time he spent there, he averaged 57%. From 3-point range, Beauchamp is a career 36 percent shooter from deep; he shot 66% for the Clippers and 40% with the Bucks last season.
On paper, his average of two points per game for the Bucks this season is nothing special, but he's averaged that in a very limited amount of minutes on the court (just 4.7 per game). Stretch those numbers out, and he'd be averaging 16.6 points in a regular 36-minute appearance, as well as 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists, as per Basketball Reference.
In his last game for the Clippers, Beauchamp showed that potential, hitting nine points against the Pacers in just 13 minutes on the court. These are the kind of numbers that could really boost Thibodeau's team from the bench. And it's the potential Rose and his recruitment team saw that convinced the Knicks to tie down Beauchamp to a two-way deal.
At 24 years old, he is definitely one for the future rather than the present, but if he continues to grow in Westchester, he has the potential to become an absolute hidden gem for Thibodeau, and this deal will have looked like another steal. Leon Rose has definitely done it again.