A lottery pick in 2019, Cam Reddish’s future is as murky as ever heading into his final year of his rookie contract. Can he and the Knicks come to an understanding about his role in 2022-23 and get Cam’s career on track as he cruises towards restricted free agency?

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As the Knicks enter the third full season of the Leon Rose era, one characteristic of his front office has become abundantly clear: they prioritize value. Almost every transaction they have made, whether it is in free agency, where they’ve attached team options at the end of each contract (most considered bargains at the time of the signings), or trades, where they have stockpiled picks and emphasized patience in the name of winning each trade they make, the Rose administration has steered their ship in a single direction with almost unwavering consistency.

I say “almost” because, like with most rules, there is an exception. On Jan. 13, the Knicks traded Kevin Knox, a former first round pick who the franchise had long past given up on, and one of their vaunted first round picks (Charlotte’s heavily protected future pick), for Cam Reddish, a third-year player who, like Knox, had worn out his welcome with the team that drafted him.

This trade remains perplexing to outsiders because it is unclear what exactly the plan for Reddish is going forward. Do the Knicks even have one? If not, why did they surrender a first round pick for him? Since the 2020 NBA Offseason, this Front Office has operated in lockstep with Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. The 2020-2021 roster, while flawed, was filled with Thibodeau guys of whom he could maximize. We know Thibodeau has core values that he views as essential to winning a basketball game — consistent effort, rim pressure and shooting corner threes on offense, rim protection and defending the corners on defense. A guy like Reggie Bullock must have made Thibodeau exceptionally content to drive to work each day. Reddish, however, does not exactly fit the Thibodeau mold. 

When you watch Reddish play, there is a clear disconnect between how he views himself and how his teams want him to play. I am sure there is some psychology in play here. After all, coming out of high school, Reddish was seen as one of the three best players in the country, along with fellow Duke commits Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett. And while both Williamson and Barrett have (to different degrees) been set on a star trajectory, allowed to learn through failures in a primary role, Reddish has been slotted in more of a supporting one. Even at Duke, Reddish, who finished his freshman season with a horrific sub-50% true shooting percentage, was the third banana, tasked with playing off the ball and feeding on the scraps when the rare chance presented itself. 

Reddish’s short NBA stint has seen more of the same. In fact, throughout his first two seasons, Reddish played only 461 of his 2301 minutes on the floor without superstar Trae Young. Young is many things, one of which is an exceptional offensive basketball player, but he has yet to develop the Steph Curry off-the-ball game many projected for him coming out of college. Currently he falls much closer to the Luka Doncic brand of ball: heliocentric. To play next to Young and contribute is to be, at best, a connector, and, more often, a play finisher. Not exactly an ideal situation for a player who fancies himself a future star. 

This disconnect presented itself on the court. The Hawks, frankly, performed terribly when Reddish played. While others — like Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela, and Danilo Gallinari — embraced being supporting characters in the Trae Young show, Reddish faltered. The tape backs this up overwhelmingly, just as it does going back to his year at Duke. Reddish has no interest in being a supporting piece, on either end. He is at his most impactful when he is featured in the primary action.

Offensively he can be dynamic, looking the part he covets for himself. He has a smooth jump shot, a quick first step, and the ability to finish at the basket with both hands. On defense, he has the build and quickness to allow him to guard multiple positions at a high level. Being on the ball brings out a level of engagement teams are desperate to see every possession. The problem is that we have four years of evidence to the contrary. Reddish doesn’t bring it every possession. 

Knicks fans might read this and think that it does not bode well for the marriage between Reddish and the long-embattled franchise. Especially with Thibodeau who, going back to his foundation and values, emphasizes consistency over everything. If he isn’t sure what you’re going to bring on a night-to-night basis, you probably aren’t playing very much. In fact, after the Knicks traded for Reddish, he didn’t play at all. It took 10 games and some injuries for him to enter the rotation consistently. And even then, the results were rocky. Despite coming off the bench and spending most of his time with a unit that, statistically, thrived, the Knicks were 10.6 points per 100 possessions better when Reddish sat on the bench than when he played. That was the worst number of any Knicks rotation player, including Julius Randle, whom the Knicks were 9.8 points per 100 possessions better with on the bench.

So is there hope? I believe there is. But it starts, like most things Knicks-related, with picking a path. The Knicks need to make it clear to him what their vision for him is. Do they believe in the ceiling he sees for himself? Do they fancy him a star? My guess is that they don’t. And if that’s the case, they need to map out the role player skills they want him to prioritize. There is so much low-hanging fruit for Reddish to grab ahold of. The most important question is, does he want to? 

The evidence is in the tape. There is a very good role player there. One who doesn’t need to dominate the ball or use an abundance of possessions in isolation to positively impact a game. His 15 games for the Knicks saw 3-point and free throw rates reach career-high levels, putting his true shooting percentage at a respectable 57.5%, much higher than the 50% and 48.8% he produced in his first two seasons. He also posted career-high-level steal and block percentages. In his limited minutes, we saw what a good version of this version of Reddish could look like from a profile standpoint.

Ultimately, the answers to these questions lie in the mindset of Reddish himself. If he comes out like he has the past four years of his basketball life, dead set on being Paul George Lite, this situation will be solved very quickly. And it is very likely he’ll follow in the footsteps of the man he was traded for; a former first round pick disappearing into the deep abyss of lottery picks who failed to find their place in this unforgiving league.

But should he decide to commit to a supporting role — one that sees him moving off of the ball, shooting off the catch, attacking close-outs, and being a versatile, roaming force defensively — it is very easy to see him carving out a role for himself next to Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin off the bench. Fittingly enough, the best way for him to ensure that he sees consistent minutes, allowing him to potentially blossom into the star he thinks he can be, is to take a step back and round out the way he impacts games. I believe he can do it. Does he?