RJ Barrett didn’t play much basketball in the summer of 2022, as he mostly was waiting to see whether the Knicks were going to sign him to a massive contract extension.
Inked to a four-year, $107 million deal last September — which kicks in this season — Barrett took on a heavier workload during the offseason this year, when he played a leading role for Team Canada in August at the FIBA World Cup.
The 23-year-old Barrett credited that experience with helping him get ready for his fifth NBA season with the Knicks.
“Having played this summer was big for me,” Barrett said after practice Friday in Tarrytown. “I’m just in a better rhythm, as well as routine things. Also just getting older, learning the league more, learning myself, learning my body. As I’m getting older, I’m figuring things out more and more.
“So I feel great. I’ve felt great, even in the preseason games. We definitely still gotta get back to learning how to play together and stuff. But just conditioning-wise and everything, I feel really good. So I’m excited.”
With the Knicks slated to open their regular season Wednesday against the Celtics, Sixth Man of the Year finalist Immanuel Quickley is facing a Monday deadline to sign a contract extension, a position Barrett was in 13 months ago.
“For me, thankfully, it was able to get done. But I think my frustration was, like, the contact stuff and wanting to do more during the summer [last year],” said Barrett, who averaged 18 points over 25.3 minutes in three preseason appearances. “But [I] had to be cautious. Not playing that summer, I love to play all the time. So I think that was a little bit of the frustration on my end.
“But like I said, I got to play this summer, so I’m thankful I’m going into the season very confident and very ready.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had said that Quickley sat out the preseason finale Wednesday against the Wizards because he was “nicked up.”
But the combo guard was back practicing with the team on Friday, and Thibodeau said “he “felt good” and looked “great.”
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