How Kevin Porter Jr. trade affects Knicks training camp cuts

NEW YORK — If a tree falls in Oklahoma City and lands in Houston, can you hear it from the Big Apple?

The Knicks have been among a number of teams monitoring rival training camp rosters as the Oct. 23 roster deadline approaches and the Thunder, who had 21 players on the roster prior to Tuesday afternoon’s eye-raising trade, are the talk of town.

Oklahoma City agreed to acquire — and immediately waive — Kevin Porter Jr. along with two future first-round picks in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

Oladipo and Robinson-Earl were likely cuts to Oklahoma City’s final 15-man regular-season roster, so they traded both to Houston in exchange for eating the $16.8 million in guaranteed salary owed to Porter, plus the future draft picks. Porter was arrested last month in Manhattan for an alleged attack on his girlfriend, Kysre Gondrezick, a former WNBA player with the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky.

Why does that matter at The Garden? The Knicks have to be monitoring the Thunder’s training camp situation.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau openly admitted as much when asked about his team’s final three roster spots — spots Duane Washington Jr., Jacob Toppin, Ryan Arcidiacono, Charlie Brown Jr., Isaiah Roby and DaQuan Jeffries are battling for as the only players on the roster on non-guaranteed contracts.

Had the Thunder not agreed to a deal, they would have had to waive or trade Oladipo and Robinson-Earl before the Oct. 23 deadline, making them available for a team like the Knicks to claim for the season.

If the Knicks had any interest in either player, they must now go through Houston.

Don’t the Knicks have a full roster?

Yes and no. The Knicks have 12 players on guaranteed contracts, six players on non-guaranteed contracts and three more on two-way deals. NBA teams can only have 15 players and three two-way players on the roster by the Oct. 23 deadline.

Theoretically, the Knicks could waive all six players on non-guaranteed contracts and then sign three players who become free agents when cut by other teams.

Thibodeau is a fan of the group he calls “the young guys” but made clear the Knicks are minding other backyards, as well.

“We have a number of guys who are fighting it out for those spots at the end and they’re all worthy; they’ve been here a long time. They’re working extremely hard and they’ve done their jobs, so we’ll see how it unfolds,” Thibodeau said on Oct. 9. “We’ll be looking at other things as well: whether it’s people being released on guaranteed contracts because their team is over [the roster limit]. So whatever we feel will help the team the most, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Which teams could those be?

There are roughly 111 players vying for 35 open roster spots league-wide as of Tuesday afternoon. The Hawks and Pacers are the only teams currently meeting the maximum of 15 players plus three two-way players, and the Celtics, Warriors and Kings are each also coming into camp with 18 players, though some are on non-guaranteed deals and can be cut ahead of the deadline.

Every other team, the Knicks included, is going to have to make a roster cut. Meanwhile, the pool of available players will increase as the deadline draws closer.

For example, the Lakers waived three players — including Scottie Pippen Jr. — the Warriors waived three players, and the Grizzlies, Bulls and Pelicans each waived one player on Saturday.

The Hornets also recently waived Kai Jones, a talented frontcourt player whose off-the-court antics got him cut from the team despite his superior athletic gifts. Jones, the 19th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, is likely willing to sign at his Year 3 minimum of $2.092 million, which is all the Knicks can afford after spending the mid-level exception on Donte DiVincenzo.

The real roster interest is outside of the Atlantic Division altogether.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Hornets must cut two of Nathan Mensah, JT Thor, RJ Hampton, Edmond Sumner and Frank Ntilikina; the Cavaliers must cut three of Tristan Thompson, Zaire Smith, Sam Merrill, Sharife Cooper, Pete Nance and Justin Powell; the Pistons must waive four of Tosan Evbuomwan, Stanley Umude, Zavier Simpson, Buddy Boeheim and Jontay Porter; the Rockets can only keep one of Matthew Mayer, Jeenathan Williams, Nate Hinton, Aaron Holiday and Boban Marjanovic; the Pelicans waived Nolley II, and Jose Alvarado is likely to stick, so they can only keep one of Tevian Jones, Trey Jemison, Jalen Crutcher and Malcolm Hill.

After trading Oladipo and Robinson-Earl, some believe Jack White is the odd-man out of the Oklahoma City Thunder 15-man rotation; Phoenix will need to waive one of Jordan Goodwin or Ish Wainright — or cut a veteran rotation player on a championship-caliber team; the Trail Blazers can keep four of Duop Reath, George Conditt IV, Jabari Walker, Justin Minaya, Moses Brown and former Knick Kevin Knox; the Jazz can only sign two of Luka Samanic, Kris Dunn and Omer Yurtseven; and the Wizards have 19 players vying for 15 spots, with four cuts coming between Michael Foster Jr., Jules Bernard, Anthony Gill, Taj Gibson, Ryan Rollins and Xavier Cooks.

These cuts can come via waiving a player or trading a player to a team that has an open roster spot, like Houston.

What about the young guys? Are there any favorites?

A decision likely won’t be made until the final preseason game has been played, and since the Knicks’ regular rotation players are expected to miss at least one game in the Tuesday-Wednesday preseason back-to-back against the Celtics and Wizards, the other game will be the final attempt for the end-of-the-rotation players to make a lasting impression on the coaching staff.

For what it’s worth, Duane Washington Jr. has Julius Randle’s vote.

“His leadership is huge. He comes in and works his butt off everyday. Talks, he’s vocal, he’s coachable. Knows how to run a team. So he’s been amazing,” Randle said of Washington on Friday before spreading love across the group fighting for roster spots. “Nate [Nathan Knight, on a two-way deal], Dylan [Windler, also on a two-way deal]. All those guys, man. They work their asses off. They get here early, stay late. Weight room. Whatever Thibs is asking them to do. 100 percent effort.”

Thibodeau says he’s looking for players who elevate the starters’ level in practice.

“It’s not that those guys don’t have an important role: They do, because they help your team get ready each and every night,” he said.

Is there a position the Knicks need to address?

After trading Obi Toppin to the Pacers for a pair of second-round picks, the Knicks are deploying Josh Hart as their backup four. Thibodeau has also turned to the combination of Jericho Sims and Isaiah Hartenstein as dual bigs on the floor, but the results have been mixed. Roby is another option at the four on the roster, listed at 6-8 having shot 44% from three in the 2021-22 season.

Randle, of course, will play the majority of the minutes at the four this season.