LAS VEGAS — Summer league is usually for youngsters, rookies and hopefuls.
Then there is Brandon Knight.
He’s a former lottery pick with eight seasons in and $80 million earned. Nevertheless, the 29-year-old point guard is at the NBA Summer League with the Nets, trying show his knees are sound and state his case to general manager Sean Marks.
“That’s the main narrative. And I got an opportunity to come and play. I haven’t played, so anytime I get a chance to be on the court in this environment, I want a team that’s interested. It’s a blessing,” Knight told The Post. “Sean, thanks for the opportunity, for the chance to be able to showcase myself and represent them. And then also on top of that, taking note of my knee,
“The narrative of my knees, that I’m not healthy, that’s not right. So for me, the narrative is just to show that I’m healthy. I’m ready to play. And I’m here. Most importantly, I’m here to serve these young guys. Summer league is not about me. … My goal is to serve to serve these young guys, give them wisdom, and try to help them and be a servant in any place that I can be.”
The No. 8-overall pick in 2011 by Detroit, Knight averaged 15.2 points and 4.3 assists over his first six seasons, with the Pistons, Bucks and Suns. But after tearing his ACL, he missed all of 2017-18.
Knight averaged just 6.8 points in 2018-19, and 7.3 the next season. He didn’t play at all this past season, working out for Milwaukee in March, but not getting signed.
Now after the Bucks went on to win the championship, Knight is hoping to show he’s healthy and can stick with this upcoming season’s title favorites.
“Yeah, man, [I’m] 100 percent good to go,” Knight said. “So, like I said, for me, the main thing that I want to get across is just to change the narrative or my knee, because I know I can still play. And for me to go to come out and lead and really just get to know these guys and be a part of the team.
“I’m trying to serve these guys, staff, the team, the young guys. If I’ve got nine years, and one of these players don’t get a gem for me, that’s a problem for me.”
One of those young players is first-round pick Cam Thomas, a gifted scoring guard himself. Knight has been passing on pearls of wisdom to Thomas, and has strung together several strong practices in a row.
“He’s been unbelievable in the little bit of time that we’ve been around. Great person, obviously a great player. The knee, that’s what he wants to show, that he’s healthy,” Nets summer league coach Jordan Ott told The Post. “And he’s been great with us. He’s been our leader. Definitely a breath of fresh air kind of lifting this group that is pretty young, pretty young group. He’s helped us.
“[It] speaks to him. He has a choice where he wants, does he want to play, who he wants to play with. We’re lucky enough that he chose us. We’re thankful as a coaching staff that he’s around, because he’s so much more experienced than even us as coaches. We’re lucky just to be that’s the exciting part, one of the many exciting parts of.”
Quinndary Weatherspoon took a knock in practice Friday and sat out most of the team work Saturday. But the guard should be fine for Monday’s opener.
After spending the past two years as a Spurs two-way, playing alongside Patty Mills, Weatherspoon was full of praise for the Nets’ free-agent signing.
“Patty is extremely a great person, on and off the court,” Weatherspoon told The Post. “We talked a lot this year, got close. He took me under his wing. He just did everything he could try to help me be a better player.
“He’s amazing man, great shooter who’s going to come play hard every night. Brooklyn is going to be excited to have him, a great piece they added to the team.”