Although he showed promise during his two-year tenure with the New York Knicks , shooting guard Allonzo Trier was ultimately released by the club last summer. Now, the 24-year-old — who once captured Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2017 Pac-12 Tournament in the collegiate ranks — is reportedly aiming to return to the association by working his way up through the G League.
As reported by The Athletic ‘s Shams Charania via Twitter on Friday, Trier has signed a contract with the NBA’s developmental organization and will be a part of the player pool for the G League Draft on Monday.
News of the 24-year-old’s ground-up approach to continuing his career at the world’s highest level of basketball competition comes on the same day the G League began revealing the details of its forthcoming 2021 campaign.
Per a release on its official site, the league will officially kick off a truncated season in February with all games being contested within a bubble campus at Disney World. As was the case when the NBA utilized the same venue to conclude its 2019-20 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, players, coaches and staff will all live on-site while adhering to health and safety protocols.
After going undrafted in 2018, Trier joined the Knicks organization on a two-way deal that would have seen him split time between the NBA club and its developmental affiliate, the Westchester Knicks. However, the 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard ultimately bypassed the G League altogether when he became the first two-way signee to earn a guaranteed contract within the first two months of a season.
During a surprisingly successful rookie campaign, Trier played in 64 games and started three, averaging 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 23 minutes per contest, as tracked by RealGM . Along the way, he connected on better than 39 percent of his three-point attempts. He scored a career-high 31 points and collected 10 rebounds in a January 2019 loss to the Houston Rockets.
While New York picked up his second-year option as a result of his on-court production, the former Arizona Wildcats star ultimately saw his minutes and role with the team shrink in 2019-20. Trier appeared in just 24 games before the pandemic-induced suspension of play, putting up just 6.5 points per contest.
Trier isn’t the only player of note who has elected to take the developmental path to the association. As relayed by The Inquisitr earlier this week, LiAngelo Ball — the middle brother of former top-three picks Lonzo and LaMelo Ball — has reportedly joined the draft pool as well after failing to catch on with the Detroit Pistons during training camp.
