Really, how often do you remember Rowan Junior?
Mayor Zohran Mamdani did. Speaking at the Knicks’ championship ceremony at City Hall on June 18, he made sure RJ Barrett’s name was included among those who helped build the title team:
“This championship belongs to them too, because championships aren’t just built in one season. It belongs to Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, and also to a coach who also laid the groundwork, Tom Thibodeau.”
Still, Barrett has become strangely easy to overlook when we talk about the era that began with Thibodeau, Julius Randle, and the 2020–21 “We Here” Knicks. On this date, September 1, 2022, RJ signed an extension that appeared to establish him as part of the long-term core; 16 months later, he became the central piece of the trade that brought OG Anunoby to New York.
Rowan Alexander “RJ” Barrett Jr. arrived with bona fide basketball bloodlines. His father, Rowan Barrett Sr., starred at St. John’s, played professionally overseas, captained Canada at the 2000 Olympics, and later became general manager of Canada Basketball. His mother, Kesha, was a nationally ranked sprinter and long jumper at St. John’s. Steve Nash, one of the greatest Canadian basketball players ever, is RJ’s godfather. With all that preceding him, clearly young RJ was destined to be a professional bowler.
Born in Toronto in 2000, Barrett starred at St. Marcellinus before transferring to Montverde Academy in Florida. By the end of his high school career, he was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the class of 2018, with Naismith Prep Player of the Year and Gatorade National Player of the Year honors in his trophy case.
Barrett entered Duke as the projected top pick in the 2019 draft, but his roommate Zion Williamson quickly became the main attraction in Durham. The two became close friends, referred to each other as brothers, and made history as the first freshman teammates to each average more than 20 points. Williamson’s gravitational pull (literal and figurative) pushed Barrett into the background somewhat, even as RJ set ACC freshman scoring records and earned consensus first-team All-American honors.
Meanwhile, the 2018–19 Knicks were deliberately dreadful, finishing 17–65 during the first season of the new lottery odds. Their 14% chance at Williamson turned into the third pick, with New Orleans selecting Zion and Memphis taking Ja Morant. Barrett was still considered a top-three talent and a clean fit for New York, so the Knicks pounced without hesitation. Still…he wasn’t Zion. (I still think about the woman who got the Zion Knicks tattoo ahead of draft night and wonder if she still has it…)
On draft night at Barclays Center, RJ became emotional when Adam Silver called his name, later explaining that his late maternal grandfather, a die-hard Knicks fan with Brooklyn and Jamaica roots, used to tell him he would someday play for the club. After his press conference, Barrett turned toward the cameras and declared, “Yo! I’m a Knick!” His excitement was so sweetly genuine: he wanted New York, and New York wanted him right back (but…he still wasn’t Zion…).
Barrett’s rookie season was uneven, with 14.3 points per game on inefficient shooting. Thibodeau’s arrival changed the direction of the franchise and helped Barrett find firmer footing. He averaged 17.6 points in 2020–21, improved his shooting, defended harder, and helped Randle carry New York into the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
RJ reached 20 points per game the following season and continued to start nearly every night. When the Knicks extended him in September 2022, Barrett was only 22 and still looked like a key piece in whatever New York was becoming.
The fit never completely worked, though. Barrett and Randle both did their best work inside the arc, which cramped the paint, and Barrett never became a reliable enough three-point shooter or natural enough playmaker to solve the problem (particularly after Captain Brunson arrived). He could still bully his way downhill and occasionally produce a great Garden moment. His banked-in buzzer-beater that completed a comeback against Boston in January 2022 is a recent classic. Consistency, however, remained elusive.
Then, on December 30, 2023, the Knicks sent Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a second-round pick to Toronto for Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi (Evil Donte) Flynn. Anunoby’s defense and seamless fit transformed the team almost immediately, and it quickly became a pretty lopsided trade.
For Barrett, the deal meant going home. He became a steady 20-point scorer in Toronto, showed growth as a playmaker, and continued using his strength to batter his way toward the rim. Life hit him with tragedy when his younger brother Nathan died following an illness in March 2024. Barrett stepped away from basketball before eventually returning and speaking openly about his grief: “He was my best friend…I’m always missing him. I still text him.” Our hearts went out to him and still do.
The championship story understandably centers on Brunson, Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart. We love them all, but none were on the team when RJ arrived. MSG was still a sort of basketball wasteland. RJ brought some hope that someday soon, things would be different. He absorbed the expectations that came with being the third pick on a miserable team, helped the Knicks climb out of the lottery years, and supplied his share of memorable nights at the Garden. Mamdani remembered, and a few others still do. For a player once expected to become the face of the franchise, his name should come up more often.
Go Knicks.
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