Former Knicks are all over the 2024 Paris Olympics

On Saturday morning, we saw the beginning of Olympic action in basketball, starting with Australia taking down the usual powerhouse Spain. Even though there isn’t a current Knick in the Olympics or a player with well-known connections to the Knicks in that game, there are familiar faces around the tournament in Paris.

A few weeks ago, there was a 24-team tournament for the last four spots in the Olympics. That tournament featured a handful of former Knicks, including Lebanon’s Omari Spellman, Croatia’s Mario Hezonja, the D.R’s Jean Montero, Italy’s Danilo Gallinari, and Lithuania’s Mindaguas Kuzminskas. A current Knick almost went to the Olympics, as Lithuania was one win from joining the field with Rokas Jokubaitis in tow, but fell short to a Jose Alvarado-led Puerto Rico squad.

While I know we would all love to be watching our ‘Bockers play overseas right now like they did last year in the FIBA World Cup, I find myself rooting for the guys who spent time donning the orange and blue when I’m not rooting for Team USA (side note: Kevin Durant was absolutely insane yesterday). In case you aren’t aware of who exactly is out there, let me be your guide so you know who to look for when you aren’t watching the stars and stripes.

SF RJ Barrett (Canada)

RJ! The highest drafted Knick since Patrick Ewing in 1985 and a fan favorite throughout his tenure is suiting up for his first Olympics. He was on the Canada team attempting to qualify in 2021, but they came up short against Tomas Satoransky and Czechia. Barrett was notably left off All-Rookie after an inconsistent rookie year following his one year at Duke with future NBA talent Tre Jones, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish. He went through a few amalgamations as a Knick, going from a corner-sitting 40% 3-point shooter in 2020-21 to a co-first option towards the end of the 2021-22 season, being rewarded with a four-year extension as soon as Donovan Mitchell got traded to the Cavaliers. After 1.5 years as the third option behind a pair of all-stars, the Knicks grew impatient with his stagnation and traded him with Immanuel Quickley to the Raptors for OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa.

(Storytime: I attended RJ and IQ’s last game in Orlando. The next day, while I was poolside watching Penn State lose the Peach Bowl to Ole Miss, I got the Woj bomb on my phone. It is not something you expect to happen in late December.)

To his credit, RJ has mostly silenced the haters in Toronto, averaging 21.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on a much better 55.3% from the field and 39.2% from 3. Barrett led Team Canada in scoring in their opening win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, scoring 23 points on Saturday.

C Willy Hernangomez (Spain)

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I will forever tell people that Hernangomez was incredibly underrated as a Knick. New York acquired the Spanish big man on Draft Night 2015 for two distant second-round picks after the 76ers took him 35th overall. He spent just 1.5 years with the Knicks and played just 98 games. Yet, when he was a rookie, I thought he and Porzingis were our PF/C of the future. How desperate we used to be. To his credit, Hernangomez finished tied for fifth with future NBA champion Jamal Murray in the 2017 Rookie of the Year voting. After 98 games and averages of 7.1 points and 5.8 rebounds a game, he was traded to Charlotte at the 2018 deadline for two future seconds.

What did those seconds turn into? The 2020 2nd was sent to Utah as part of the draft day maneuvering that eventually landed the Knicks the 25th pick in the 2020 draft, Immanuel Quickley. The 2021 2nd was sent to Detroit midway through the 20-21 season with Dennis Smith, Jr. for Derrick Rose. So, in a very loose sense, Willy Hernangomez got us Quickley and D-Rose. Thanks, Willy!

Since leaving the Knicks, he’s played for Charlotte and New Orleans before going back to Europe in 2023. This is his third Olympic games, averaging between five and six points a game on 59% shooting in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. He was the leading scorer for Spain in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. In the opening match against Australia, he scored 14 points on 6-12 from the field.

PG Frank Ntilikina (France)

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Another former first-round pick, Ntilikina came directly from Europe when the Knicks drafted him eighth overall in 2017. As Knicks fans will forever let you know, ahead of guys like Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo. Ntilikina was never the prince that was promised, though I will say that he got the short end of the stick, with the old management stripping away playing time in favor of Jarrett Jack and Ramon Sessions. Oh yeah, and then they traded for reclamation projects in Emmanuel Mudiay and Dennis Smith Jr. In four years of declining playing time, he started just 55 of the 211 games played, averaging just 5.5 points and 2.7 assists on a putrid 36.8% from the field. One thing that translated from his draft day scouting report was his hellacious defense.

To Frank’s credit, he’s hung around with Dallas and Charlotte since, even playing a prominent role for the 2022-23 Mavericks off the bench. In his international career, he averaged eight PPG for a bronze medal French team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup before playing a smaller role when he won a silver at the Tokyo games.

SG Evan Fournier (France)

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Fournier’s legacy in New York is not an easy one to discuss. All that will likely be remembered of him is that he was a bust of a four-year, $72 million contract in the 2021 offseason, a contract that, alongside Kemba Walker, nearly derailed the Knicks before they could properly ascend. Still, despite his much-maligned defense, Fournier put up a record-breaking shooting performance in the 2021-22 season, shooting 38.9% from deep with a franchise-record 241 3PM. However, it all derailed just two months into his second season. With his defense being a massive issue in the Tom Thibodeau scheme and his shooting numbers collapsing, the Saint-Maurice, France native was benched by Tom Thibodeau in November for Quentin Grimes with Cam Reddish and Derrick Rose behind him in a pivotal move that recharged a slumping group. Fournier, after December 3, played just 17 more games as a Knick before being dumped in a salary dump for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks this February. Fournier was recently released by Detroit. His legacy, the single-game and single-season 3-point record, was erased in two seasons by Donte DiVincenzo. Both of them.

Despite his bad tenure, don’t let it distract you from FIBA Fournier. He averaged 19.8 and 21.7 points per game respectively in the 2019 and 2023 FIBA World Cups. In Tokyo in 2021, he led the silver medalists in scoring with 18.7 points a night, shooting nearly 38% from 3. Fournier’s role has greatly diminished at the beginning of the Victor Wembanyama era this year, logging just 13 minutes with seven points against Brazil on Saturday.

F Nuni Omot (South Sudan)

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From here, it’s only players who have never played a game for the Knicks. Omot spent the 2022-23 season with the Westchester Knicks, averaging 12 points and 4.6 rebounds on 40.8% shooting in 18 games. Omot spent two years at Baylor, where he was the unfortunate recipient of a graphic for his tragic family situation. Omot was born in Kenya in a refugee camp, as his family escaped Ethiopia during their civil war in the 1990s. He was able to move to the U.S. at the age of 2 in 1996 with his mother and siblings.

Omot has bounced around the last couple of years but is currently signed with the Ningbo Rockets of the Chinese Basketball Association. In yesterday’s win vs Puerto Rico, he had 12 points and six rebounds on 4-for-15 shooting in 21 minutes.

Is this Cheating?

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Brock Aller really loves international draft rights. There are a handful in the Olympics this year, although none are likely to ever play for the Knicks.

Matthias Lessort (France): Lessort’s rights were acquired in the 2020 trade that made Immanuel Quickley a Knick. At the time, he was 25 playing for AS Monaco. Today, he’s 28 on Panathinaikos after being named to the All-EuroLeague 1st Team in back-to-back years. Lessort played 12 minutes and scored four points in the opener against Brazil.

Sergio Llull (Spain): Llull’s rights were acquired in September 2020 in the Austin Rivers trade (man, remember him?). Back then, he was 33 and one of the most accomplished European players of the 2010s for Real Madrid. Now? He’s 36 and the EuroLeague’s all-time 3PM leader. Llull might be entering the swansong of his career, with his minutes slowly declining as he becomes a key bench piece, but he’s a true vet. He missed the Tokyo Olympics but was an integral piece of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 teams. In Spain’s opener against Australia, the old man still showed his skills, scoring 17 points on 5-for-15 from deep. Shooters shoot.