NY Knicks potential buyout target: Darius Miller

The NY Knicks have only a few more days before the NBA buyout window closes on Friday, April 9th. After The Los Angeles Lakers scooped up Ben McLemore, who may have ended up being the last notable name to become available. Now, there’s hardly any time left for more players to become available.

Many people, including myself, expected The Houston Rockets to buyout both Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynk – Two names that certainly would have garnered interest from The Knicks’ front office. Yet here we are with just hours left in the buyout window and it doesn’t sound like either player will be released. Rockets’ head coach Stephen Silas spoke to the Miami Sun Sentinal about the newly acquired Bradley,

"“I envision Avery kind of being a multi-purpose guy… He’s one of the best one-on-one defenders in the NBA over the last 10 years. He’ll have that role.”"

The likely names of Bradley, Olynyk, and even Otto Porter Jr. with Orlando Magic seem unlikely to be bought out. In a recent piece for The Athletic, Derek Bodner talked about the remaining buyout candidates. He listed Oklahoma City Thunder forward Darius Miller as the most likely to be bought out before the Friday deadline.

NY Knicks: Could they use Darius Miller?

The 6’6 Darius Miller was traded by The New Orleans Pelicans to The Oklahoma City Thunder before the start of the season. The 31-year old has had sporadic playing time for a Thunder team that has been in full rebuild mode – They’re the youngest team in the league. Perhaps The Thunder will want to get in even more playing time for their young guys to close out the season.

Is Darius Miller an exciting name? No. Do the NY Knicks have a lot of depth at wing? No.

You know what you’re getting with Miller, and that’s spot-up shooting. On the season, Darius Miller is shooting just over 40% from 3 and is a career 38.3% shooter. Miller’s catch-and-shoot 3-point shooting is impressive – 42.3% on the season.

For The Knicks, we’ve seen just how important depth can be with how thin their frontcourt has been since losing Mitchell Robinson. Imagine if the team lost Reggie Bullock? It would have to be a medley of RJ Barrett and Alec Burks at the 3 and a heavy reliance on Kevin Knox. Darius Miller would at least provide some insurance as someone who naturally has played at the small forward position for his entire career.

With The Knicks signing centers Norvel Pelle and John Henson to 10-day contracts, I don’t expect them to retain both. That means there will be an extra spot open on the team, which should be for more wing depth.

Miller has a large sample size of good NBA 3-point shooting, which is really the main requirement to become an insurance policy for a NY Knicks team that has been inconsistent on offense. Keep an eye on Darius Miller as a name to watch ahead of Friday’s buyout deadline.