Duane Washington Jr. is heading to the Big Apple to play for the New York Knicks one month after he was cut by the Suns.
The former Phoenix shooting guard was signed by the Knicks on Tuesday on a two-way contract, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He was waived by Phoenix on Feb. 1.
Now in his second season, the Ohio State product joins the NBA’s second-hottest team. The Knicks are on a six-game win streak and are fifth in the Eastern Conference standings (first-place Milwaukee Bucks currently have the league’s season-high 14 straight victories).
The 6-foot-3 Washington Jr. was signed by Phoenix to a two-way deal entering training camp in September. He averaged 7.9 points, shot 36.7% overall and 36% from deep, 66.7% on his free throws, and two assists in 12.7 minutes per game before he was released.
Washington Jr. showed flashes of promise and briefly had his playing time increased between November and January when the Suns’ starting guards Devin Booker and Chris Paul as well as their second unit’s backcourt players Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne were injured.
He started in three of his 31 appearances, scored over 20 points four times, and made his season-best five 3s in four different games, including his career-best 26 points in the Suns’ home rout of Memphis on Dec. 27.
Washington Jr.’s minutes began to decrease when the Suns added guard Saben Lee back to their roster on a 10-day contract on Jan. 11, after they originally gave Lee a training camp deal in October and cut him during the preseason.
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Lee has produced 6.1 points, shoots 42.5% and 38.9% from beyond the arc, 73.7% FT, 2.9 assists, and his 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio is now the team’s second-best behind Paul’s 4.3 compared to Washington Jr.’s 1.9 in the latter category.
Washington Jr. was released by the Suns to open up one of their two-way players on their 15-man roster (Ish Wainright was the other two-way player who upgraded to a multi-year deal on Friday) to sign Lee for the rest of this regular season after his second 10-day contract expired on Jan. 31.
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