Acquired in the OG Anunoby trade last January, Precious Achiuwa has been the primary backup power forward for the New York Knicks.
He has made spot starts because of injuries, his defensive effort is always reliable, and his versatility to play power forward and center has been valuable to the Knicks on many occasions. However, since Mitchell Robinson and Jalen Brunson are back from injuries, it is not surprising to see Achiuwa’s minutes start to decrease or not play at all.
Achiuwa is on a one-year contract, so with his lack of play toward the end of the season, it looks like he will not be in a Knicks uniform in 2025-26.
Not a part of the rotation?
Since Mitchell Robinson returned on Feb. 28, Achiuwa has averaged 14 minutes per game and had four DNPs.
Before Robinson returned, Achiuwa averaged 22.8 minutes per game, but during that stretch, he still had a plus-minus of negative 40. Plus-minus is not a great stat to measure individual play, but over a 37-game span for a bench player on a 50-win team, it has some significance.
This week, he did not play against the Phoenix Suns or in an overtime game against the Boston Celtics. Tom Thibodeau has instead used a nine-man rotation, with a bench consisting of Landry Shamet, Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, and Cameron Payne. Against the Celtics, Thibs chose not to play Shamet in the second half and went with an eight-man rotation to finish the game.
Reasons behind Precious Achiuwa’s benching
Delon Wright extended his run for five games when Payne, McBride, and Jalen Brunson were all out with injuries, and he did an excellent job covering. Achiuwa has not had those same impactful fill-in games when Towns or Robinson were not playing. Recently, Achiuwa had one of the worst games of his career vs. the Philadelphia 76ers in Towns’ absence.
His fit with Karl-Anthony Towns on the court is awkward. The eye test will tell you that Achiuwa clogs too many lanes. He is not a shooter either, so defenders will leave him open if he’s in the corner, and this results in defenders giving more attention to the real scorers on the floor like Bridges, Brunson, and Towns.
Not playing Precious Achiuwa has to hurt the Knicks’ coaching staff because he has created many memorable moments and performances over the last year and a half.
Achiuwa Sees Spot Start With Several Out
With OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson inactive Thursday night, Thibs had little choice but to give Precious Achiuwa the starting nod. The 25-year-old posted 18 points (8/13 FG, 1/4 3PT, 1/1 FT), 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks in 39 minutes of action.
Achiuwa’s minutes included this absolutely vicious poster of Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, whose on-court antics have made some question if he should be in the MMA instead of the NBA.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1910478181695365385
Despite Achiuwa’s heavy minutes on Thursday and occasional flashes of success, there’s simply not enough time to go around, and his fit with Towns remains clunky.
With the playoffs coming up and Tom Thibodeau shortening his already-thin rotation, we will unlikely see big minutes from him again unless in spot-starter situations like Thursday night.
Leave a comment