Early Summer League Standouts Are Painful Knicks Reminder

For most diehard Knicks fans, the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas hasn’t been a fun watch thus far, as the Knicks are 0-2. Now, records in the summer league don’t mean much, as it's more about development and seeing who can step up and possibly be part of the rotation in the upcoming season.

The Knicks hope Pacôme Dadiet and Mohamed Diawara, in particular, can take that next step; the former has, while the latter, Diawara, has gotten off to a slow start. Meanwhile, rookies Jack Kayil and Tyler Nickel have had their moments through two games, but Kayil isn’t expected to be with the club this season.

Looking back at the 2026 NBA Draft, fans were banking on the Knicks using their three picks to find role players to add to the rotation. Instead, they made multiple trades and settled on Nickel and Kayil in the second round.

It’s only Summer League, but the early results show that the Knicks could’ve used players like Cameron Carr, Zuby Ejiofor, and Tarris Reed, who have played much better than New York’s guys.

Now, we can add Meleek Thomas and Dillon Mitchell to that list of early summer league standouts, who were on the Knicks’ radar before the draft and are making some noise in the NBA Summer League.

Knicks may be regretting not taking Meleek Thomas or Dillon Mitchell after their recent Summer League performances

On Sunday, Thomas—taken by the Cavaliers with the 34th overall pick—erupted for 30 points in his second summer league game.

The former Arkansas guard shot 10-of-24 from the field and 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. He also stuffed the stat sheet with seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and two turnovers in 34 minutes. The Knicks reportedly worked out the former Razorbacks guard towards the end of May.

Coming into the draft, Thomas was known as an electrifying scorer at Arkansas, who also shot 41.6% from deep last season under head coach John Calipari, and he showcased that against the Pistons.