Precious Achiuwa is officially heading to the Miami Heat, according to a tweet from ESPN Insider Sham Charania. With the deal, Achiuwa becomes the first member of the 2024-25 Knicks to sign with a new team this free agency cycle.
Achiuwa, who was selected with the 20th overall pick by the Heat back in 2020, reunites with his former team after spending the last year and a half with the Knicks, when they acquired him in part of the deal that landed them OG Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors.
Last season, Achiuwa's only full season with the team, he averaged 6.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1 assist over 57 games, 10 of which he started for the Knicks. While things never fully clicked in New York, Achiuwa was a useful body, at the very least, and had some lasting memories.
The Knicks upgraded Precious' roster spot
While Achiuwa's signing with the Heat officially signals his departure, it has been clear for months that the Knicks weren't planning on bringing him back. Earlier this offseason, the Knicks used their taxpayer mid-level exception to ink the Frenchman to a two-year, $12 million contract.
Considering the Knicks also have three other centers on the roster, in Karl Anthony-Towns, Mitchell Robinson, and Ariel Hukporti, the odds of bringing Achiuwa back into the fold were highly unlikely.
The move signals a change in philosophy for the Knicks
Swapping out Achiuwa for Yabusele shows just what kind of change the Knicks are hoping to have this season under new head coach Mike Brown. They want to space the floor out, play faster, make quicker decisions, and shoot more threes.
As a team, the Knicks ranked 27th in the league in 3-point volume last season, a number that dipped to 29th in the league in 2025. Achiuwa was one of just 25 players in the league who played at least 1,000 minutes last season while shooting fewer than 40 total threes. Simply put, the Knicks don't have room for that type of player on their roster anymore.
Far too many minutes where Towns and Jalen Brunson were on the floor last season were spent with non-shooters shrinking the floor and clogging the paint around them. Brown wants to lean into an offense that is centered around space and pace concepts, and that means having floor spacers on the court as often as possible, which Achiuwa is not.