Let the record show that I was, maybe not a Brandon Knight supporter, but a Brandon Knight tolerator during his time with the Bucks. Did I think he should have been an All-Star that one year? Yeah, I kinda think he should have been, but I wasn’t totally butthurt that he wasn’t. As I said, I tolerated Knight’s presence on the team and thought that he could eventually be good enough to be, like, the second option to Giannis or something. Or the third option behind Middleton. Who knows what I was thinking about then.
Then he got traded to the Suns in the trade that sent MCW to the Bucks (I pray to multiple deities every night to help me forget that dude), had a volume-scoring 20 PPG season (okay, 19.6 PPG, but I rounded up because 20 PPG sounds way cooler), had a much worse second season in Phoenix, then got injured and was out for the entire next season. Normally I don’t feel much empathy for NBA players but that really sucks. Or at least, I thought it sucked until I looked at Knight’s contract. Then I was like “nah, he’s fine,” even if the injury likely took a toll on his confidence and overall mental health, things that money aren’t going to fix.
Has Knight’s career been permanently derailed? I was starting to think so, but then he went and had this game, where he looked like the Knight of old for stretches of game time. He’s still only 27 so he’s not an old man or anything. Maybe he will turn it around and live up to the potential that apparently caused Florida HS basketball fans to crown him the “best Floridian high school player…ever.” I’m rooting for him.