Obi Toppin's Future: 'Hard to See' Return to Knicks

ESPN's Zach Lowe has a dire outlook on future collaborations between the New York Knicks and 2020 first-round pick Obi Toppin.

Coming from a (college) team called the Flyers, perhaps Dayton alum Obi Toppin's career at Madison Square Garden was doomed from the start.

New intel from Zach Lowe of ESPN indicates that Toppin's days with MSG's New York Knicks may be numbered, as he indicates that "it's hard to see any marriage" between the depth forward and the team that drafted him with the eighth overall pick in the 2020 draft. Toppin is due for an extension to his rookie deal but his current usage far from warrants it.

Through three seasons, Toppin has failed to generate any lasting role in New York. He remains a nominal mainstay in head coach Tom Thibodeau's current nine-man set off the bench but he backs up Julius Randle, the Association's leader in total minutes (and participant in all 75 Knicks games) while Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein have adequately handled interior duties. As a result, his already paltry playing time has dwindled to 14.3 minutes a game in 60 appearances (no starts). That's nearly a full three-minute reduction from last season (17.1). He hasn't played at least 20 minutes in a single game since Dec. 3.

"Toppin's entire existence is running around for two short stints, jacking a few open 3s and retiring to the bench," Lowe writes. "If he makes a couple of threes, he helped. If he goes 0-of-4, you forget he played. He has no chance to establish rhythm."

In what little playing time he's earned, Toppin has developed at least something of an outside prescience, having sunk a career-best 64 triples this year at a 32 percent success rate (another personal best). Alas for those who invested in Toppin jerseys upon his touted entry, that's hardly enough incentive to invest further. 

Toppin, who turned 25 earlier this month, was reportedly dangled in front of teams at the most recent trade deadline but no deal emerged. Lowe remarks that his 6-foot-9, 220-lb. frame, in addition to his relative outside abilities, could give him an NBA future. 

"He runs the floor faster than almost any big man, and he's a quick passer with handoff skills. If he can make enough three,  and New York brass was extremely bullish before the season, Toppin is a good backup and spot starter, despite below-average defense."

Toppin and the Knicks (42-33) return to action on Monday night as they look to end a three-game losing streak against the woebegone Houston Rockets (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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