Through six years in the NBA, Kevin Knox II found himself unwanted by four different franchises. The Detroit Pistons even had the former ninth overall pick for two different stints, yet had no interest in re-signing him after 31 games last season.
It's been over a year since Knox was active in an NBA game, but that will change on Friday at Golden 1 Center as he suits up for the Golden State Warriors for the first time in a regular season outing.
Can Kevin Knox turn his career around with the Warriors?
Knox has just signed a 10-day contract with the Warriors, alongside Santa Cruz teammate Yuri Collins. Yet unlike Collins who is on the injury report as he remains with the G League squad, Knox will be available for a Golden State team looking to surge to a playoff spot over the final 27 games of the season.
That in itself is an unusual spot for Knox to be in, having so often been with teams who weren't particularly focused on winning. The 25-year-old holds the worst win-loss percentage of any active player, shoots less than 40% from the floor on his career, and is a combined -1230 plus-minus in just over 5,500 NBA minutes.
Those numbers are pretty trash by any standard, so why would things be any different for Knox with the Warriors? Perhaps they won't be, but this is still an opportunity he deserves based on the huge numbers he's put up in the G League this season.
Knox has averaged 21.8 points and 8.0 rebounds, including 25.3 points in 12 regular season games on 52.7% shooting from the floor and 44.4% from 3-point range. It's that scoring ability that could be valuable to Golden State who rank 17th in offense and lack the sort of size and shooting combination that Knox possesses.
“Kev can just put the ball in the rim, bro. He can do that at a higher level than a lot of guys in the NBA," Warrior rookie Quinten Post said of Knox in a recent interview with Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.
It's now a wait and see on whether Knox will actually see legitimate rotation opportunity, but his chances are likely to be enhanced by the ongoing absence of Jonathan Kuminga. The talented fourth-year forward will miss at least the first two games out of the All-Star break, having sustained a significant ankle sprain against the Memphis Grizzlies on January 4.
Given it's only a 10-day contract to begin with, Knox will have to put his best foot forward immediately to ensure his NBA return isn't a short-lived one.