RJ Barrett’s benching certainly was notable Tuesday night, especially because of his unmistakable unhappiness over it afterward.
Still, it wasn’t the first time in recent games that the $107 million wing watched from the sidelines down the stretch, with Tom Thibodeau increasingly leaning on Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes instead.
Thibodeau took the drastic step of pinning Barrett to the bench for the final 6:41 of regulation and all of overtime in Tuesday’s loss to the Lakers. The always-accessible Barrett then bolted the locker room without speaking with reporters after the game, and the Knicks had no media availability on Wednesday.
“We were just looking for our group to get going. The group that was out there was what we went with,” Thibodeau explained after the game. “Just because of what [the Lakers] had going on off the dribble. So I think that was probably, the quickness and speed that they have and them going off the dribble.”
With Thibodeau primarily employing a nine-man rotation since November, the 22-year-old Barrett often starts the fourth quarter alongside the second unit, with fellow starters Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson usually getting a quick breather on the bench.
In Saturday’s loss to the Nets, for instance, Barrett was on the floor to open the final period. He then was subbed out for Grimes with 6:50 to go and returned with 1:43 remaining in place of Quickley. In the Knicks’ home win last week against Cleveland
But Quickley had played the entire fourth quarter off the bench of the team’s Jan. 11 win against Indiana
The sixth man also was on the court for the last 12 minutes of the Knicks’ win in Detroit four days later, with Barrett sitting out the final 7:13. Thibodeau noted after that game that Barrett was still “getting his rhythm back” from a hand injury and “RJ is going to finish 99 percent of the time.”
Similarly, with Mitchell Robinson sidelined since undergoing thumb surgery on Jan. 19, Thibodeau also decides between centers Isaiah Hartenstein or Jericho Sims to close out games depending on matchups.
Entering Wednesday’s league action, Barrett still was logging 34.6 minutes per game to rank 34th in the league in playing time this season. And if you remove his two-minute stint before departing with a lacerated hand in Dallas on Dec. 27, Barrett’s minutes would jump into the Top 25 in the league at 35.3 per game. That would leave him a shade below Randle’s team-high 35.9 minutes per appearance and ahead of Brunson’s 34.6 mpg.
Entering Thursday’s home game against the Heat, Barrett also had logged at least 38 minutes in five of the Knicks’ past eight games.
The timing of the benching, however, comes while the Knicks are contemplating making a move to send multiple first-round draft picks to Toronto for two-way wing OG Anunoby, the NBA steals leader, as well as other potential trades ahead of the Feb. 9 deadline.
Because Barrett’s four-year, $107 million contract doesn’t kick in until next season, the league’s poison pill provision for extended rookie-level contracts makes him unlikely to be dealt until his current deal expires on July 1.
It will be interesting to see if Thibodeau and Barrett will or have had a discussion about the player’s unhappiness, but the former Duke star’s usage down the stretch in the next handful of games is sure to be scrutinized.
Barrett is averaging a career-best 20.1 points per game over 46 appearances to rank third on the team in scoring behind Randle (24.7) and Brunson (22.8). They have a chance to become the first trio in franchise history to each average better than 20 points per game in the same season.
The Heat, who enter Thursday’s game two games ahead of the Knicks for the No. 6 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, also have three players averaging more than 20 points per game: Jimmy Butler (22.0), Bam Adebayo (21.4) and Tyler Herro (20.2).