NBA
Report: Knicks Summer League Star Close to Israeli Deal
The globe-trotting adventures of New York Knicks prospect Rokas Jokubaitis appear set to continue.
Per Alessandro Maggi of Sportando, Jokubaitis is close to signing a deal with renowned Israeli squad Maccabi Tel Aviv. Jokubaitis recently wrapped his second Summer League tour with the Knicks after spending recent seasons with FC Barcelona in Spain.
Winner of six EuroLeague titles, Maccabi Tel Aviv has hosted several past and present NBA talents, such as Deni Avdija, Omri Casspi, and Joe Ingles.
The “advanced talks” Maggi speaks of appear to continue his nomadic professional basketball career, one that has more or less turned him into a piece of Knicks folklore: Jokubaitis originally entered the NBA as the 34th pick of the 2021 draft, originally chosen by Oklahoma City. An immediate trade put him in the Knicks’ system and he has appeared on the Summer League rosters in 2021 and 2024 while turning himself into an international sharpshooter.
Between six professional seasons with Barcelona and Zalgiris in his native Lithuania, the 23-year-old has hit over 40 percent of his three-point attempts in EuroLeague play while amassing several team and individual honors.
More recently, Jokubaitis partook in all five games of the Knicks’ Summer League slate in Las Vegas, averaging 9.8 points and 3.8 assists (second-best on the team in the latter category behind Tyler Kolek). Jokubaitis shot over 57 percent from the field and notably put up a perfect 7-of-7 shooting effort in last Wednesday’s win over Sacramento’s prospects.
Despite Jokubaitis struggles with turnovers (losing 15, including six alone in Saturday’s victorious finale over Atlanta), Knicks Summer League head coach Dice Yoshimoto was pleased with the progress developed over two-plus years abroad.
“He was aggressive on both sides of the floor,” Yoshimoto said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “He got into the ball better. He’s understanding the defensive schemes better. He’s done a great job so far watching the film.”
Jokubaitis got to partake in the baby Knicks’ Vegas vacation after he led Lithuania’s futile effort to reach the upcoming Summe Olympics in Paris. Making the Knicks’ primary roster was perhaps always going to be difficult without creating a logjam (especially with Kolek and Cameron Payne added as potential spell options for Jalen Brunson) but Jokubaitis remained optimistic about his eventual Association prospects.
“At this point I don’t have any preference. I played my whole life in Europe but I always wanted to come back here to see myself how I would do here. My options are free and why not try it here also?” Jokubaitis said in Bondy’s report. “In a few weeks we will see where I will go. But now I have a few games in Summer League and we’ll see.”
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