How Knicks let breakout NBA Draft star Chris Duarte slip away
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One of the indignities of the Knicks getting routed Wednesday in Indiana was the sterling performance by Pacers rookie shooting guard Chris Duarte.
In continuing his fine first season, Duarte poured in 23 points in 30 minutes, shooting 9 of 11 from the field, 2 for 2 from 3-point land and dishing out six assists.
As reported first by The Post, Duarte was a top target of the Knicks in the 2021 NBA Draft in July. But The Post has learned the Knicks may have not done enough early in the draft process to secure the 24-year-old Oregon sharpshooter, who went at No. 13 to the Pacers.
According to an NBA source, the Knicks had a chance to give Duarte’s reps a guarantee at 19 before he had conducted any personal workouts. The Knicks did not go that far when they still had the chance.
If Duarte had received a Knicks guarantee at a certain juncture, he likely would have not worked out for other teams and, hence, increased his chances of falling to 19.
People close to Duarte, who was born in the Dominican Republic, were amenable to a guarantee from the Knicks – perhaps because of New York City’s robust Dominican population.
Duarte was one of the few top prospects held out of the draft combine from June 22-26. Duarte didn’t start to conduct team workouts until late in the process.
The Pacers had Duarte work out against Gonzaga forward Corey Kispert, LSU guard Cam Thomas (now a Net) and Stanford wing Ziaire Williams. According to a source, the Pacers fell in love.
“By the time Duarte started doing workouts, it was over,’’ one NBA source said. “He wasn’t lasting until 19.’’
Knicks executive William Wesley was very high on Duarte.
Duarte wound up working out for the Knicks, Pacers, Hornets, Warriors, Wizards, Spurs and Thunder.
The Knicks tried to trade up in the draft for Duarte at 13 but were unsuccessful. Had the Pacers not picked him, the Warriors would have taken him at 14.
The Pacers knew they had a potential standout in the 6-foot-6 shooter and didn’t care about his advanced age for a rookie or unorthodox late-blooming background during which he played a year of high school ball in upstate Troy.
The Knicks owned four picks: Nos. 19, 21, 32 and 58. They ultimately did well, but didn’t get a major impact player such as Duarte for this season.
After a series of trades, they wound up with picks 25 (Quentin Grimes), 34 (European stash pick Rokas Jokubaitis) and 35 (Miles McBride) and 58 (Jericho Sims).
Grimes, in limited time, has impressed Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau as a two-way player, logging 13 games. McBride is mostly seeing G League action, Jokubaitis is playing for Barcelona and Sims has been a live-wire surprise though buried in the center rotation.
That the Knicks, who play in Toronto on Friday, have a losing record at 12-13, regressing from last season’s 41-31, is head-scratching when you consider this: Knicks president Leon Rose entered the draft with four picks and went into free agency with a league-high amount of cap space. The Knicks are in 11th place – which would mean the lottery if the season ended today.
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