The NCAA ruling that gave the entire Class of 2022 a fifth year of eligibility could draw New York Knicks second-round draft pick Tyler Nickel back to college. The reigning NBA Champions have one official spot left and just two centers in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond. Their attempt to sign Moussa Cissé in restricted free agency signaled their desire to connect those two dots.
New York is the only team in the NBA without a single player signed to a two-way contract. Even if the Knicks offer Nickel one, the money he can get out of the NCAA's NIL era might simply not compare. If the sharpshooter heads back to school, Leon Rose's front office might have a forward drafted-and-stashed in the NCAA for a season. They should also, however, have a solid pivot in 2024 draft pick Kevin McCullar Jr.
The problem is that the Kansas product's two-way contract expired after last season, and he was nowhere to be found at Summer League — with the reigning champions or anyone else. The 25-year-old has tangled with injuries throughout his young career; could one have prevented him from playing in Las Vegas? If the Knicks are okay betting on his health, though, he's proven on the court that he's worth another two-way deal once things settle.
McCullar Jr. plays Knicks basketball when he's healthy
The Knicks have Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson, Tyler Kolek, and even Landry Shamet at guard — but could still use reinforcements on the wings and under the basket. So long as he's available for the majority of the 2027 regular season, bringing McCullar Jr. back on a two-way deal could help with that.
At the moment, though, seemingly only the Knicks and McCullar Jr.'s camp have the full details of his availability (or lack of it). He missed six of the final 12 games of his final season at Kansas, including the Big 12 Tournament. And he missed the 2024 NCAA Tournament with knee pain that he just couldn't play through.
When a team is contending for a championship, the margin for error is already thin. The Knicks' title victory, however, equates to a target on the back of every orange and blue jersey they'll don this season. New York's 2027 bid to become the NBA's first repeat champion in nine years was never going to be easy, and two-way players can help on the road to the postseason — even though they're ineligible to compete in it.
McCullar has turned in strong performances as a member of the Knicks' squads in both NBA Summer League and G-League play. His best game as an NBA player, though, unsurprisingly came under head coach Mike Brown — who spent his first season in New York empowering the team's young players and still winning a title.
The wing had 13 points, eight rebounds (four offensive), two assists, and two steals against the Atlanta Hawks on December 27, 2025. McCullar shot 3-6 from behind the 3-point arc and showed he was ready to plug-and-play in Brown's system.
SNY's Ian Begley reported after the performance that credit was partly due to the Knicks' medical staff, writing that they had "poured into" McCullar as a rookie and were seeing dividends a year later. Did New York decide to cut their losses on this investment? Or are there future returns still to come?
McCullar Jr. played unsung role in Knicks' comeback win over Hawks
Mikal Bridges' post-championship Instagram livestream isn't exactly infamous because of his discussion of McCullar Jr.'s contributions against — ironically enough — the Hawks. But that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
The wing discussed McCullar — and his job as "CJ McCollum" on the Knicks' scout team. At one point, he recalled the 25-year-old catching a burn from an assistant coach after "breaking character" by missing a mid-range jumper.
The two are known to share a friendship, as evidenced by Bridges' willingness to put the Knicks' sophomore on blast in a happy moment. Despite the team's practice getting some levity at McCullar's expense, New York wound up doing a great job on McCollum after falling down 2-1. The wing can get some credit for that, at least.
He was part of the Knick ecosystem that resulted in a title. Brown does value process over results, but especially with the team's initial investment in McCullar medically, it's hard to imagine that the organization has already lost all faith in him.
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