{"id":104928,"date":"2024-11-04T10:26:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=104928"},"modified":"2024-11-04T10:27:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:27:22","slug":"knicks-convert-ariel-hukporti-two-way-contract-standard-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/04\/knicks-convert-ariel-hukporti-two-way-contract-standard-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Convert Two-Way Player\u2019s Contract To Standard Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Knicks have made a series of moves in an effort to win a championship. In fact, quite a few of them fall in the blockbuster category. That being said, their latest transaction may go under the radar.<\/p>\n<p>According to ESPN senior insider Shams Charania, the Knicks are converting center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hukpoar01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ariel Hukporti<\/a>\u2019s two-way contract to a standard two-year contract. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/20\/1-question-for-each-new-york-knicks-rookie\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">2024 No. 58 pick<\/a>, Hukporti has only played 29 total minutes with New York this season. However, in that time, he\u2019s already proven himself to be a fearsome rim-protector.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The New York Knicks and two-way center Ariel Hukporti have agreed on a standard two-year NBA contract, sources tell ESPN. The new deal for Hukporti includes a team option in 2025-26 season. The 7-footer out of Germany has served as a viable big man in Knicks frontcourt. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0EQGoqp4Zx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/0EQGoqp4Zx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1853445884979101728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As a reminder, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/robinmi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mitchell Robinson<\/a> isn\u2019t expected to be return from injury until the next calendar year, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/14\/knicks-set-for-mitchell-robinson-return-around-deadline\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">potentially in January<\/a>. Consequently, the next two months will be pretty significant for both the rookie and his team. The hulking Hukporti, who is listed at 7-foot-0 and 246 pounds, could play a significant role while the Knicks await Robinson\u2019s return.<\/p>\n<p>New York still has solid depth at center without Robinson. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>, who the Knicks acquired shortly before the season began, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/04\/knicks-towns-trade-get-antetokounmpo\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">has been a game-changer<\/a> as a 7-foot-0 stretch-five. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simsje01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jericho Sims<\/a> is a traditional center at 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds, averaging 13.8 minutes per game. They simply protect the paint better with Hukporti, who\u2019s averaging an eye-popping 5.0 blocks per 36 minutes.<\/p>\n<h3>It\u2019s Not Just About Him<\/h3>\n<p>Promoting Hukporti to the standard 15-man roster has a few other benefits.<\/p>\n<p>They now have an open two-way spot, which they might use to sign one of the younger free agents. At this point in time, the Knicks\u2019 biggest weaknesses are rebounding and rim-protection, so they may even sign another big man. Adding another center who can stretch the floor, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/metuch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chimezie Metu<\/a> or <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yurtsom01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omer Yurtseven<\/a>, could also be in the cards.<\/p>\n<p>Hukporti also gives the team extra insurance if they move one of their current bigs, be it Robinson, Sims, or even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/achiupr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Precious Achiuwa<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, if the Knicks believe that Towns is their center of the future, Robinson could be the odd man out. He\u2019s generally been more effective than New York\u2019s other bigs, sans Towns. However, that may not work in the Knicks\u2019 favor, as he\u2019ll become a free agent in 2026. As they\u2019re already footing a high bill, retaining Robinson on a lucrative deal may be an untenable situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Knicks have made a series of moves in an effort to win a championship. In fact, quite a few of them fall in the blockbuster category. That being said, their latest transaction may go under the radar. According to ESPN senior insider Shams Charania, the Knicks are converting center Ariel Hukporti\u2019s two-way [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":104934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1608,62,3],"tags":[49750,4386,213,1616,297],"class_list":["post-104928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knicks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-ariel-hukporti","tag-jericho-sims","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}