On Sunday, the same night the Knicks lost their ninth straight game to plunge to 3-13, big man Jeremy Tyler finally made his season debut in the D-League for Erie after recovering from stress fracture surgery.
The Knicks are closely monitoring the situation and intend to re-sign Tyler once they think he’s sharp enough and in good enough shape to contribute. He is a free agent, meaning he can sign elsewhere.
According to a source, the Knicks intend to have Tyler play 3-5 games with Erie before re-signing him. That means he could be a Knick by mid-December.
Tyler was cut in training camp because he was still rehabbing and owner James Dolan wanted to keep J.R. Smith’s brother, Chris Smith, as the 15th man in a highly controversial move that triggered the NBA to hold internal talks about the issue.
The question will be whether the Knicks will cut Smith, who is also playing for Erie, guard Tour’e Murry, who is on the roster but almost never plays, or center Cole Aldrich, who has seen almost zero action despite Tyson Chandler’s injury.
Tyler, 22, didn’t have a good debut, picking up three fouls during a rusty first quarter. The 6-foot-10 forward/center, a summer-league sensation, played 27 minutes, scoring nine points on 4-of-10 shooting with four rebounds. But he committed five turnovers. According to one report, he lost the ball a few times after getting pressured on the low block.
Tyler pocketed $200,000 in guaranteed money despite being cut. Because of the Knicks’ luxury-tax bracket, that amounted to an almost $650,000 payout for Dolan, so an investment has been made. The Knicks expect to get back Chandler in two weeks, but they still need frontcourt depth with worries about the long-term health of Amar’e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin.