Luke Kornet

Kornet saw his 2019-20 season cut short even before the COVID-19 pandemic paused play, as the third-year big man was beset by a serious left ankle sprain in late February. Prior to that development, Kornet averaged 6.0 points and 2.3 rebounds across 15.5 minutes over 36 games. Kornet struggled significantly as a shooter from in front of the arc during the 2018-19 campaign with an unsightly 41.1 percent success rate, but he bounced back last season to shoot a career-high 43.9 percent overall, including 64.6 percent from two-point range. Conversely, the 7-foot-1 Kornet had been a strong three-point shooter during his first pair of pro seasons before slumping to 28.7 percent shooting from distance in 2019-20, and he may have limited opportunities to bounce back in the coming campaign with Daniel Gafford and Cristiano Feliciano likely ahead of him on the depth chart behind Wendell Carter.

Kornet saw some minor improvement in his second NBA season with the Knicks last year, averaging 7.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists across 17.0 minutes per game. Due to injury, he ended up making just 46 appearances with New York, but 18 of those were starts. In those starts, Kornet's averages were boosted to 11.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 25.7 minutes per contest. Kornet is primarily a floor spacer on offense, as he shot an impressive 36.3 percent from behind the arc last season on 4.2 attempts per game. In Chicago, he may have a hard time coming across consistent playing time with the team likely looking to see everything it can out of its young frontcourt. With Wendell Carter and Lauri Markkanen locked in as starters, Kornet will likely be behind veteran Thaddeus Young and rookie Daniel Gafford in the rotation. However, despite having young careers, Carter and Markkanen already have their own injury histories, so Kornet does give the Bulls a fairly reliable reserve option should either miss time.

After going undrafted out of Vanderbilt, Kornet spent the 2017-18 campaign on a two-way deal with the Knicks. He saw action in just 20 games with New York at the NBA level, averaging 6.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 three-pointers across 16.4 minutes. However, he did dominate in 36 G-League games, finishing with 16.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 blocks and 2.5 three-pointers across 32.4 minutes. That strong play and solid offseason prompted the Knicks to bring him back on standard contract for the upcoming year. Kornet is expected to slot in as depth in the frontcourt, providing a floor-stretching big that can hit the deep ball. He could see some decent run early on in the season with Kristaps Porzingis (knee) expected to miss at least the first few months, though that doesn't mean he'll be a viable option in Fantasy leagues. The Knicks also brought in Noah Vonleh and Mitchell Robinson this offseason, who could push Kornet for minutes at the position.