Knicks Roundup: Precious Achiuwa’s return, Landry Shamet & Matt Ryan’s future

The New York Knicks are on the verge of bolstering their frontcourt depth with the return of Precious Achiuwa, who has been out since the preseason with a hamstring strain.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau announced Monday that Achiuwa is “getting closer” to making his season debut, potentially “in a week or so.” via Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.

“He’s going to make more contact now,” Thibodeau said, according to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy. “He’s getting closer. Probably in the next week.”

Achiuwa, acquired last season in the trade that brought OG Anunoby to New York, averaged a solid 7.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 24 minutes per game. d be required.

His return will not only give the Knicks a physical presence inside, but also the flexibility to experiment with double-big lineups alongside Karl-Anthony Towns — a possibility Thibodeau recently hinted, revealed that he was willing to put together a Jericho Sims-Karl-Anthony Towns duo on the field, but a lack of practice has prevented him from doing so.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Thibodeau said. “We haven’t had a lot of time to practice, so that’s a big thing. We started working on it and then KAT got a shot. So it didn’t allow us to do it as much as we would have liked.”

In Achiuwa’s absence, Sims has carried much of the workload as the primary backup center with Mitchell Robinson out until late December or most likely January.

Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images

The Knicks are interested in signing Landry Shamet and to keep Matt Ryan

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on Monday that the New York Knicks are still interested in re-signing Landry Shamet once he finishes his injury rehabilitation.

“Looking forward, sharpshooter Landry Shamet is expected to be re-signed by the Knicks once he is healthy.” – Michael Scotto

Shamet, who has been recovering from a preseason shoulder dislocation, was always expected to sign with the Knicks before the regular season. His untimely injury derailed those plans. Nothing has changed, however, as New York’s front office remains locked into adding the sharpshooter to the team as soon as possible.

But perhaps more important is Scotto’s report on what the Knicks will do with fellow veteran Matt Ryan once Shamet is added to the roster.

– He hopes that Matt Ryan will clean up and re-sign a two-way contract, league sources told HoopsHype. – Michael Scotto

According to Scotto, if (or when) Shamet returns, Matt Ryan — currently on a non-guaranteed deal with the organization — would likely be waived and re-signed to a two-way contract, pending clearance through waivers, so the Knicks can keep both players in tow.

New York still has an open spot on their 15-man roster, but what the franchise doesn’t have is salary cap space under the second apron to pull off a move that would pay both Shamet and Ryan regular contract-type money.