The Toronto Raptors finally did what the fanbase had been begging for, which was to add some more frontcourt depth when they signed Trey Jemison III to their final two-way spot. Jemison III has been a journeyman through his short NBA career, playing for five teams in three years, but he did just win an NBA title with the New York Knicks.
Originally, this wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind, but days after this signing, concern is building about how good Jemison III truly is if New York was willing to let him walk to an Eastern Conference rival. It would be one thing if the Knicks had already used all their two-way spots or were set with multiple backup bigs to support Karl-Anthony Towns after Mitchell Robinson's departure.
But they aren’t.
The Knicks are currently slated to enter the 2026-27 season with Andre Drummond as their backup center and nobody else. So you think they would’ve made an effort to sign Jemison III back, given that he’s familiar with the team and they need a player who can play his role. After losing one of their biggest X-factors in Robinson to their rival Boston Celtics, you're telling me they made no effort to sign Jemison III?
And that this guy is supposed to play some type of role on the 2026-27 Raptors?
That scares me.
Concerns with Trey Jemison III are being raised before he even plays
If this was 2018 and the Raptors had just signed a former Knicks center to a two-way deal, I’d be approaching things completely differently. Back then, New York basketball was the laughing stock of the league, and MSG had never felt more dead. However, those days are way past the Knicks. Nowadays, they are a smart, calculated winning organization, led by a brilliant executive in Leon Rose, so when they don’t want a player, it means something.
At no point do I want to give fans the idea that I was projecting Jemison III to be this unreal game-changer who was going to help the Raptors win several games. I did believe that when the signing was first made, he could help this team on the margins, be a rebounder, and fill in on nights when certain usual rotation players were resting.Â
Yet the issue I keep running into now is that the Knicks, who needed a player who could provide exactly what Toronto is asking of Jemison III, simply let him walk.
If this signing does become a miss, it’s obviously not a big deal, as with him being on a two-way deal, he’s easily cuttable. The issue is more about potentially wasting time on a player the defending champions didn’t deem good enough to retain when they needed one with his advertised skill set.
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