Kidd-Gilchrist represents the fifth player former Kentucky player on the Knicks, joining Julius Randle, Kevin Knox, Nerlens Noel and Immanuel Quickley. Nine of the 12 players acquired/signed/drafted by Leon Rose since he took over as team president are either CAA clients or former Kentucky players.
Immanuel Quickley Rumors
The Knicks ignored it all and selected him at No. 25 in Wednesday’s NBA Draft. The Post has learned former Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne, now a Knicks assistant, pushed strongly for the move, feeling Quickley was undervalued. “I feel like the ‘they’ can be anybody,” Quickley said on “MSG A.M.,” the network’s new morning show. “You’re trying to not only prove people wrong, but prove yourself right. I feel like a lot of people after my freshman year at Kentucky gave up on me and said — I should transfer, I should leave, I’m not going to be good enough.
“I just screenshotted everything I saw that said I wasn’t going to be good enough. And I took it to my workouts and made a list of goals and things like that. That’s stuff that I’ll take with me even to the next level as far as just trying to prove other people wrong, trying to prove myself right and to just continue to keep working hard.” Asked what Knicks fans can expect, Quickley said, “I’m somebody who works hard and is driven. And someone that I feel is confident and is going to work hard every single day to achieve his goals and the team goals.”
Chris Iseman: The Knicks announce they’ve acquired the draft rights to Immanuel Quickley from OKC, as well as the draft rights go Mathias Lessort and a future second-round pick.
Shams Charania: Sources: OKC is selecting Immanuel Quickley with the No. 25 pick in the NBA Draft — going to Knicks.