Rookie Kristaps Porzingis is on the New York Knicks’ summer-league roster, an indication that the team expects him to play in Las Vegas over the next two weeks.
Porzingis’ availability for summer league was uncertain because of hip tightness that he first experienced in a pre-draft workout with the Knicks.
His brother, Janis, said on ESPN 98.7 FM’s “The Hahn and Humpty Show” late last month that he was unsure if Porzingis would be ready for the Knicks’ summer-league opener on June 11.
The Knicks put Porzingis on the roster with the expectation -- or at the very least, the hope -- that he will play.
Also on the roster is fellow first-round pick Jerian Grant and second-year players Langston Galloway, Cleanthony Early, Ricky Ledo and Travis Wear.
Galloway, Wear, Ledo and Early all played for the Knicks last season (Galloway was a D-League call-up).
Galloway is on a partially guaranteed contract and is expected to be on the 15-man roster on opening night. Early is also under contract.
Wear, Ledo and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who played last season for the Knicks’ D-League affiliate in Westchester, are all playing with the hopes of landing one of the Knicks’ final open roster spots. As is Louis Labeyrie, a 6-foot-11 center from France who was drafted by the Knicks late in the second round of the 2014 draft.
Assuming Galloway is on the opening-night roster, the Knicks have five remaining spots. They do not have to fill all of the open spots, but do need to add at least three players.
Here are the other players on the Knicks’ summer-league roster:
• Jimmy Baron, G (Rhode Island)
• T.J. Bray, G (Princeton)
• Ovidijus Galdikas, C (Lithuania)
• Alex Kirk, F/C (New Mexico)
• Maurice Ndour, F (Ohio)
• Ben Strong, C (Guilford)
Numbers game: Porzingis will wear No. 46 at summer league. He said his preferred number is 6, but Travis Wear wore that number last season. If Wear doesn’t make the 15-man roster, it’s safe to assume Porzingis will choose No. 6. Grant will wear No. 13.
