Basketball
New York Knicks waive former first-round pick from Auburn
The New York Knicks have waived forward Chuma Okeke as the team works out the details on a trade that will bring NBA All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns to the Big Apple.
Okeke had signed with the Knicks on Aug. 2. He had become an unrestricted free agent when the Orlando Magic failed to make a qualifying offer to keep him this offseason.
A 6-foot-6 forward, Okeke played in 47 games for the Magic in the 2023-24 season. He averaged 2.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 9.5 minutes per game last season.
For his career, Okeke has averaged 6.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 20.3 minutes in 189 regular-season games.
Reports indicate the Knicks waived Okeke and Marcus Morris Sr. as part of their maneuvering to acquire Towns. Because of New York’s salary-cap situation, the Knicks can’t take in more salary than they send out in a trade, and at $49,205,800, Towns carries the sixth-largest cap hit in the NBA for the 2024-25 season.
Clearing roster positions will give New York the ability to complete sign-and-trades to include a third team in the deal and balance its ledger.
Okeke had 20 points and 11 rebounds in Auburn’s 97-80 victory over North Carolina when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game on March 29, 2019.
The injury caused Okeke to miss the entire 2019-20 NBA season after being drafted at No. 16 by Orlando, and his career has been dogged by injuries.
In the fifth game of his NBA career, Okeke sustained a bone bruise on his left knee and missed 16 games. Then he missed the final 10 games of the 2020-21 season because of a sprained ankle as he played 45 games in his first NBA campaign.
After playing in 70 of Orlando’s 82 games in the 2021-22 season, Okeke got into only 27 in the 2022-23 campaign. In December 2022, Okeke underwent a chondroplasty, a surgical procedure to repair cartilage in a joint, on his left knee.
Okeke is suddenly a free agent again with 28 of the NBA’s 30 teams set to open training camp this week.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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