Should Knicks Consider an Obi Toppin Reunion?
There's a fair amount of hype centered around Brooklyn-based basketball this summer. Though the New York Knicks are no longer affiliated with the New York Liberty, they could take interest from a different point of view.
The Indiana Pacers' Monday elimination officially tipped off another summer of speculation for Borough of Churches native and former Knicks Obi Toppin, who briefly addressed his Indianapolis mortality following a 105-102 sweep-completing loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
"I've just been focusing on these games," Toppin said on Monday, per Dustin Dopirak of Indy Star. "Now that it's over, we're just going to be chilling, right?"
An obvious decompression period awaits Toppin and the Pacers after their unexpected run to the conference final, but Toppin himself faces a potentially career-changing offseason: Indiana did not offer Toppin the extension on his rookie contract upon a July trade with the Knicks. At 26, he's perhaps running out of chances to reclaim the narrative on his NBA career, especially when it comes to fulfilling the potential the Knicks saw when they made him the eighth pick in 2020.
With the Knicks having an extra week-plus to process their elimination ... thanks in part to the Pacers ... it's at least somewhat fair to wonder if management has at least somewhat entertained the idea of a Toppin reunion.
Considering the depth issue the Knicks went through this season, no one involved with the organization can turn their nose up to such a concept. Trading Toppin for meager draft compensation certainly didn't make or break the Knicks' fortunes, but there had to be at least a hint of longing for Toppin when daily injury reports began to resemble starting lineups. The fact that Toppin's younger brother Jacob lasted the season as an undrafted free agent on the Knicks' roster also might count for just a little something.
To his credit, Toppin perhaps earned himself at least some form of NBA longevity with his in-season fall and redemption. Toppin didn't take well to starting duties (leading to the Pacers eventually trading for Pascal Siakam) but became a solid depth star over the final three months of the season. That's probably not how anyone saw his career playing out with such a high pick used on his services, but it's nonetheless a role in an era where spontaneity and improvisation offers a lukewarm response.
While the Knicks likely won't leave any stone unturned this offseason, it's hard to see a realistic reunion between the two sides.
It's not like there's any true hostility between Toppin and Knicks: Toppin didn't harbor any bad blood when he faced the team as an opponent and he was received warmly enough when the Pacers visited Madison Square Garden this season.
But the Knicks have a lot of small issues that could use fixing, beyond the medical fray, of course.. Reintroducing the ones involving Toppin would only serve as steps backward.
The primary cause for Toppin's reinsertion would perhaps be the uncertain future of Julius Randle. The extension/trade debate speaks for itself and is better off in another arena for another day, but one has to wonder how his future's going to look when next season will mark the second post-surgery opening in a row.
But the Knicks already solved that issue, sealing Josh Hart's Manhattan fate for the next four seasons. If one was annoyed by Toppin's lack of minutes prior to the Indiana trade, just imagine a scenario where he's buried under both Randle and Hart. Five months ago, Toppin could've perhaps been the bench's scoring solution after his buddy Immanuel Quickley was sent away in the OG Anunoby trade but Miles McBride wound up filling that role in a serviceable fashion.
Besides, one of the main selling points of the Toppin trade is that it's clear he didn't fit in a Tom Thibodeau system. With Thibodeau probably sticking around for the long term, it'd be foolish to start all over again.
The Knicks have build a solid blueprint for the future. Don't expect them to seek redemption for one of the fixable misfires of the past.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks