Knicks first-round pick Pacome Dadiet adjusting to the NBA game in Summer League
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver congratulates Pacome Dadiet after being selected as the Round One Number Twenty-Five draft pick by the New York Knicks in the NBA basketball draft at Barclays Center on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
LAS VEGAS — Pacome Dadiet was confident on draft night, declaring shortly after the Knicks made him the 25th overall pick that he fully intended to go to the NBA now rather than remain overseas as an inexperienced 18-year-old.
His first test with the team showed that he knows there are a lot of lessons to be learned.
Dadiet, who made his debut
in the Knicks’ starting lineup in the Las Vegas Summer League on Saturday, played nearly 30 minutes but scored only five points and shot 2-for-8. He went 0-for-3 beyond the arc, including a pair of first-half air balls.
“It felt different,” said Dadiet, who signed a contract with the Knicks to remain in the United States after playing two seasons in France and then in Germany last season. “I felt the difference for sure. It was way faster than what I know in Europe. I struggled to get things going in the game. I felt short on my shots. But the team came back and I think we fought. Defensively we were pretty good.
“Just everything [felt faster]. It’s not just conditioning, it’s the way you have to find your position on the court . . . You’ve got to make your decision faster.”
Still, Dadiet is excited to spend the season with the Knicks, continuing his learning process with the team’s coaches and by working with and against NBA-level talent.
“I think we’ve all seen the team play before,” he said. “They already have very good guys and the team is established already. I’m just a guy who’s going to be a piece to complete the team, play hard, play defense, make open shots. Just be there for players like Jalen Brunson, those guys.
“Of course [I want to learn from them]. I always have experience playing that because I’ve been playing professional for like two years. I’ve been the guy on the team for two or three years, so I know what it is.”
Knicks add Payne
The Knicks agreed to a one-year, $3.1 million veteran minimum contract on Monday with Cameron Payne, who had just served as a thorn in their side off the bench for the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round of the postseason.
Payne, who was a teammate of Mikal Bridges in Phoenix, provides a veteran point guard option off the bench, competing with rookie Tyler Kolek and Deuce McBride for backup minutes.
After Payne, 29, played less than three minutes in the first two games of the series against the Knicks, he scored 11 points off the bench in Game 3 and averaged 15 minutes per game in the final four games.
He made headlines in the offseason as he was arrested and booked in Scottsdale, Arizona, for charges including refusing to provide a truthful name and false report to law enforcement after police were called to a late-night disturbance.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
