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Known as a stout defender, Ntilikina is yet to establish himself as a consistent NBA player. His 2021-22 season was no different, culminating in a rank outside the top 400 for the second straight season. He put together a handful of decent performances during the playoffs, perhaps earning him a somewhat regular spot in the rotation. However, barring a miracle, it is unlikely he even comes close to being a fantasy-relevant asset, even in deeper formats.
The former No. 8 pick had another unproductive season for the Knicks, averaging just 5.7 points, 2.8 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 21.0 minutes across 43 games. Multiple injuries forced him to miss time, but he wasn't particularly effective when on the court. His per-36 averages showed promise on both ends of the court, especially for a 20-year-old player in his second season, but playing time will be hard to come by this season. Ntilikina has seen at least 21.0 minutes per game over his first two seasons, but that is likely to decrease in 2019-20 after a busy offseason of additions for the Knicks. Dennis Smith Jr. will play his first full season for New York, and the team added Wayne Ellington, Reggie Bullock, Elfrid Payton and No. 3 pick R.J. Barrett to form a crowded backcourt. That's a lot of moving pieces, and Ntilikina will probably be buried on the depth chart, rendering him virtually irrelevant for fantasy purposes in most formats.
As expected, Ntilikina was brought along slowly during his rookie season, spending the bulk of the year as a reserve in the backcourt. While he put together a healthy campaign (78 games), Ntilikina didn't provide much for Fantasy purposes and averaged just 5.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 0.8 steals across 21.9 minutes. In addition, he finished with fairly poor percentages across the board, shooting 36.4 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from three-point land and just 72.1 percent from the charity stripe. The good news, however, is that Ntilikina is still just 19 years old heading into his second season and is plenty capable of improving his overall game. With Kristaps Porzingis out through at least December while rehabbing a torn ACL, the Knicks aren't expected to be playoff contenders, so it wouldn't be surprising if the coaching staff turned to Ntilikina early in the season for a more significant workload to help push his development along. While added minutes should translate to higher totals across the stat sheet, Ntilikina will still likely struggle to be relevant in the bulk of Fantasy leagues and is more of a late-round flier than anything else. The guard has demonstrated an impressive defensive skill set that is beneficial for the Knicks when it comes to actual basketball purposes, but his Fantasy utility should remain limited.
After declaring for the 2017 NBA Draft, Ntilikina instantly became one of the top international targets on NBA team's radars. The 6-foot-5 point guard has excellent size for the position, though he's still filling into his body and will need to put on weight at the next level. However, his upside is still through the roof and it landed him in the lottery as the eighth overall selection by the Knicks. Ntilikina is prided for his pass-first mentality, though he's got a decent mid-range game. He'll need to improve his three-point ability in order to avoid players sagging off him, but that's something that should develop relatively quickly over his first few years in the league. When you put his size, athleticism, passing ability and a growing offensive arsenaul together, it's easy to see why the Knicks fell in love with him. Adding on to that, Ntilikina has showcased an impressive versatility as a defender, which will go leaps and bounds to earn him some playing time early on. Still, Ntilikina is fairly skinny and needs to put on plenty of weight before seeing significant minutes against other NBA point guards. The Knicks no longer have Derrick Rose at point guard and brought in just Ramon Sessions during free agency, so they may have no choice but to throw Ntilikina into the fire early. With plenty of development still ahead of him, look for Ntilikina to start off in a bench role behind Sessions, though it may not be long before he ultimately pushes for a spot in the top unit on a team void of other point guard options.