With Tim Hardaway Jr. back in the fold, Michael Beasley will likely see his role diminish moving forward, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes. Beasley played 16 minutes on Friday against the Grizzlies, the same night that Hardaway’s long-awaited return took place.
Before Hardaway’s injury, the Knicks’ bench was rotational with Beasley, Lance Thomas, and others seeing the court when the situation called for it. While Beasley played well in Hardaway’s absence, notching a pair of 30+ point outings in that time, he will have to readjust to the role he filled to start the season.
“Every one of (our bench players) lends us something and it could be situational,” head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “Lance (Thomas) has done a great job defending some of these guys. Prior to when Tim was here, there were nights when Lance didn’t play. There were nights Mike didn’t play. So we’ll probably end up going back to that.”
- Speaking of Hardway, he notched 16 points in 25 minutes for the Knicks in Friday’s loss. After missing 20 games, it was a welcome sight for the Knicks to have Hardaway back, and he felt much better than he expected, Marc Berman of the New York Post relays.
- The Knicks‘ signing of former lottery pick Trey Burke is official. Burke has arrived in New York and will be in uniform the Knicks’ tilt against the Pelicans, Grey Joyce of the New York Post writes.
- Quincy Acy got his first start of the season – and second in his 70-game career with the Nets – and played well, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. The veteran center posted eight points, six rebounds, and made a crucial three-pointer late in the game.
- Caris LeVert has played well in his second NBA season and despite his early shooting struggles, he has shown the Nets the potential of a standout player, Tom Dowd writes in a profile for NBA.com. LeVert, 23, was the 20th overall pick in last year’s draft and after missing most of his rookie season due to injury, he has made great strides in his sophomore campaign.
- The Nets will file with the NBA to receive a disabled player exception for Jeremy Lin before tomorrow’s deadline, tweets Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Lin went down with a season-ending ruptured patella tendon in his right knee on opening night.