What the Danuel House Signing means for the New York Knicks

Despite getting back both RJ Barrett and Obi Toppin, COVID troubles are still providing issues for the New York Knicks.

The team’s number of players in health and safety protocols is currently at five after center Nerlens Noel joined the list recently after the orange and blue’s victory against the Pistons this past Tuesday. As a way to combat the problem, New York has taken advantage of the hardship exception, which allows teams to sign extra players to their roster if they’re dealing with a COVID outbreak.

We’ve already seen the team call up Tyler Hall from Westchester and sign Matt Mooney along with Damyean Dotson to 10-day deals. This clearly wasn’t enough for Leon Rose and co., as they decided to add a 4th player today, with that being former Houston Rockets forward Danuel House.

House, a six-year NBA Vet, has played parts of four seasons with the Rockets after having cups of coffee with both the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns. House played in 16 games for the Rockets this season averaging just under 15 minutes per game. The Texas A&M product scored just 4.8 points per contest along with 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists. House was then waived this past Saturday before the Knicks eventually signed him to his 10-day contract.

How can Danuel House be of assistance for the New York Knicks?

While it admittedly has been a rough past couple of seasons for Danuel House, it’s his 3-point shooting that made him appealing in southeast Texas for so long. During the 2018-2019 season, House shot just under 42% behind the arc and barely fell short of 37% in 2019-2020. In the next two seasons, the Fresno native has just played in 52 games and failed to establish consistency within the Rockets’ rotation.

On the Knicks, regardless of how many games it’s for, House can serve as a role player to give the starters a rest and maybe even knock down some threes. With the exception of Nerlens Noel, every Knicks starter played at least 38 minutes on Tuesday, making it vital for the team to get some minutes elsewhere.

House is conditioned and ready to go so he should be able to be as much of a rotation piece as Tom Thibodeau needs him to be as New York waits to get their remaining five players back from COVID protocols.

Will Danuel House last the season with the New York Knicks?

Despite previous stints of success in the NBA and the potential to have an impact on these next few games for New York, it’s hard for me to imagine Danuel House being on the 15-man roster by the end of the season.

It’s beyond highly unlikely he replaces anyone like Deuce McBride, Immanuel Quickley, or Quentin Grimes when they are ready to make their return, and it’s more likely we see someone like Damyean Dotson be kept due to his previous experience and success with the Knicks.

While it’s important that House does provide some sort of positive impact if he does see the floor, I would consider this more as a tryout to find his way into a different NBA rotation rather than an audition to stay with the Knicks.