In the battle for borough bragging rights, the first-place Brooklyn Nets (14-6) will host the seventh-place New York Knicks (11-9) on Tuesday. A couple of years now removed from the fateful 2019 decision made by Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to sign with the Nets and not the Knicks in free agency, the big-market teams will meet again. The Nets entered training camp in championship-or-bust mode. Their expectations didn't change much despite losing a superstar in Kyrie Irving (due to vaccination status and local mandates) thanks to still having Kevin Durant and James Harden on board.
The Knicks are more in a needle-threading mode. They're certainly not tanking for draft picks, but they're not quite contending for titles either. The Knicks are more in that middle range where proving they're a competitive franchise, in the biggest market with the best fans, has become the focus. Their best player in Julius Randle is a borderline franchise player, despite making an All-NBA team a season ago.
But one intriguing new development that the Nets and Knicks all of a sudden have in common is they both have a former superstar on a really cheap contract riding some pine.
Four-time All-Star Kemba Walker earned Leon Rose much praise when he signed with the Knicks for just $17.8M over two years last summer. But the Bronx native who came to the Big Apple with all of the perfect hometown hero narratives has found himself out of Tom Thibodeau's rotation entirely.
The latest from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski:
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau tells reporters that Kemba Walker is out of the rotation, and Alec Burks will remain the starting point guard.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 29, 2021
The new addition has found himself behind holdovers like journeyman vet Alec Burks, former first overall pick Derrick Rose, and sophomore Immanuel Quickley. Newly signed Evan Fournier has outplayed Walker as well. Walker is averaging 11.7 points per game while shooting over 41 percent from distance. But with Walker in the starting unit, the Knicks have gotten smoked by opponents, to the tune of a -11.4 per 36 minutes. That's not all Walker's fault, but the results are brutal and he has competition in the backcourt.
For Brooklyn, a similar situation has emerged over the last couple of games. Former first overall pick and six-time All-Star Blake Griffin, acquired via buyout market last season, has found himself riding pine as well. Griffin was a huge part of the team's surprising defensive effort in last year's playoffs. But this year he hasn't had quite the same impact.
He sported some mopey or frustrated body language in a comeback win over the Cleveland Cavaliers:
Thought Blake had some frustrated/mopey body language earlier…
— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) November 18, 2021
At that point, he was ice cold as well. Griffin has shot just 32 percent from the field and 16 percent from downtown on the year.
Nets big LaMarcus Aldridge is on the other end of the spectrum, ranked 11th overall in the entire NBA in field goal percentage with a scorching hot 58 percent. That number further underscores his new “LaAutomatic” nickname, because most of the players in front of him on the field goal percentage leader list are play-finishers who feast on dunks. LMA earns his money from the midrange. He has been on fire for the whole season. Maybe he loves that new Wilson ball.
So it's no surprise that Aldridge has replaced Griffin recently. But players like DeAndre' Bembry and James Johnson have absorbed the rest of Griffin's minutes as well.
“We just need to look at different things,” explained coach Steve Nash regarding the change. “I think [Aldridge] picked up our pace. He's not the fastest guy on the floor, but we played with pace. We played with ideas. We weren’t stagnant. We moved the ball. I thought we defended well.”
According to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, Griffin has taken the difficult news in stride:
“No, I mean listen, [Aldridge] has been playing unbelievable,” Griffin said. “So, I totally get starting him, especially Joe [Harris] has been out, and I totally get that.”
Griffin has even reached out to his former Clippers and Nets teammate in DeAndre Jordan for advice on how to handle being out of the rotation.
Per Youngmisuk:
“I have seen [and] have had great examples,” Griffin said. “DeAndre last year, he is a guy that I talked to that reached out. A lot of the guys from last year reached out. He did a really great job with it. I told him that.”
Griffin and Walker are both household names, and their respective teams are not exactly at full strength. My money would be on both stars getting more chances in the future; not necessarily because they've earned it, but simply because their teams are short on bodies and it's a very long season.
Take a look at this game card from Rotowire:
With players like RJ Barrett, Nerlens Noel, Derrick Rose, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton, and of course Kyrie Irving banged up or completely unavailable, we're talking about two teams that don't exactly have the luxury to pick and choose.
But for now, it seems likely that Walker and Griffin are healthy yet won't partake in the borough rivalry, and that's not something we saw coming. Maybe they can play their way back into good graces down the road.
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