The highly-paid pivot will suit up for the Knicks G League affiliate this morning in White Plains.
The Knicks have a game tonight at the Garden against the Miami Heat, but it isn’t the only game that Joakim Noah (and Damyean Dotson) will don the orange and blue for today:
The NY Knicks have assigned Damyean Dotson and Joakim Noah to the Westchester Knicks for this morning’s game. They are expected to rejoin the NY Knicks for tonight’s game against Miami.
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) November 29, 2017
With Noah’s recent return from suspension and a subsequent illness, the Knicks seemingly want to give him some reps in the G League to allow his conditioning to improve. In his first game this year as a Knick on Monday, Noah played three minutes, recording two points, one rebound, and one blocked shot.
Using the G League as a type of rehab assignment has long made a lot of sense, but the stigma associated with it has generally prevented teams from sending veterans down. The Spurs sent Tony Parker to practice with their G League affiliate as he was returning from injury recently, perhaps setting a precedent for other teams to follow. It’s unclear if Noah will play in the Westchester Knicks game, which is set for 11 A.M. against the Maine Red Claws, but the fact that the Knicks are using their G League team for this type of assignment is smart.
This has to be true, no?:
joakim noah just became the highest paid player to ever suit up for a g league team right
— trey (@treyzingis) November 29, 2017
Noah is comfortably getting paid more to be sent down for one game than some of these guys will all season. Thoughts?
Be sure to follow along @TheKnicksWall for updates regarding Noah’s brief stint at the County Center.
UPDATE: Noah put up 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists for Westchester today. Here are his highlights:
A little bit of this, a little bit of that! @NYKnicks Joakim Noah came through and had 9 points (4/5 FG), grabbed 5 boards & dished out 4 assists in #Westchester today. #DubKnicks pic.twitter.com/5AyjqTncSr
— Westchester Knicks (@wcknicks) November 29, 2017