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Jacob Toppin signs two-way contract with New York Knicks

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•06/23/23•

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GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 17: Jacob Toppin #0 of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts after a play during the first half against the Providence Friars in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at The Fieldhouse at Greensboro Coliseum on March 17, 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin has found a new home in the NBA after he was not picked in Thursday’s draft. In the hours after the draft, Toppin signed on with the New York Knicks on a two-way contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He posted the following report of the first Toppin signing on twitter:

“Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin has agreed on a two-way contract with the New York Knicks, sources tell ESPN. He’s the younger brother of Obi.”

Congrats to J-Top on a perfect landing spot in the league. He won’t have any shortage of friends in the Big Apple since his older brother Obi Toppin is already there, plus a few former Kentucky stars like Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley are around to help bring him along. Toppin will have a chance to break into the lineup for one of the biggest brands in basketball while also being reunited with his brother. You always dream of being drafted, but it’s hard to imagine a better scenario than this one for Toppin.

His entrance into the professional ranks comes after a bizarre 2022 Kentucky season. Toppin himself sort of performed as the team did. Early in the year, he was flat-out bad for periods of play and almost looked like he’d regressed since coming on strong as a reserve in 2021-22. But during the early portion of conference play, he completely flipped the script.

By March, Toppin was Kentucky’s most consistent all-around contributor. He was a terrific secondary rebounder next to Oscar Tshiebwe, and helped Kentucky become the best rebounding unit in the nation. Toppin also surged to become one of the team’s three leading scorers, and averaged over 14 points a game from Mid-January through the end of the season.

Jacob Toppin simply played excellent basketball for the last two months of the season…until the Kansas-State game. He still defended really well and played well in other areas, but he and Antonio Reeves just went cold as the ‘Cats ultimately lost. Oh well. For Toppin on his own, 2022-23 was a real season of growth. The guy he was by March is so much different than the guy he was back in November.

Best of lucky to JT next year! He joins Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston as former Wildcats who have found their new NBA homes while, as of this writing, we’re all still waiting to see what team Oscar Tshiebwe ends up with.