“With the eighth pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks select…Obi Toppin!”
That’s how it started. Obadiah Toppin, a native New Yorker, Brooklyn-born, was a New York Knick. Emotionally he said hello to New York fans, and tearfully, we say goodbye to him three years later.
Toppin, 25, is a 6’9” right-handed player with a 7’2” wingspan. He played 67 games this past 2022-23 season, averaged 7.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, shooting 44.6% from the field, 34.4% from three, and 80.9 % from free.
December 23, 2020, Obi would make his NBA debut against the team he has been traded to. In that game, he had nine points, three rebounds, and two blocks. He wouldn’t get to play in most games and the games he played were for puny minutes. This continued up until the time he was traded.
Toppin scored a career-high 42 points in a game at the end of a season where we didn’t make the playoffs. You know the 2021-22 season. In my humble opinion, the Knicks could have used Obi a lot more that season, but that’s for the other article I’m writing. Don’t you worry, I haven’t forgotten about them.
Toppin was the 2022 NBA Slam Dunk champion but the naysayers in the league and so-called judges made that year’s contest seem null and void…but he is our slam dunk champion and always will be.
I wanted to write about Obi’s accomplishments and what he’s done for this New York Knicks team but I cannot because he was never really allowed to do so. I wish I could write about how he helped the team when Randle was injured, but that’s what eventually sent him to Indiana.
And now he’s an Indiana Pacer. The team of Reggie Miller. But Miller’s no longer there, Toppin is. And another favorite, Andrew Nembhard (one of my Gonzaga players) so it’s safe to say when they’re not playing against the Knicks, I’ll be cheering for them.
But I’ll miss Obi and IQ the most. They worked together, they worked on their games together in the offseasons, and even sometimes partied together.
According to reports, and there was a leaked recording, there was a clash between Toppin and Coach Tom Thibodeau. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t pretty, and after you knew that it wouldn’t be long before Obi was traded. He had enough and he exploded! It was after game four of the Knicks Semi-Finals versus the Miami Heat. Thibs was outcoached during that series and he mishandled Obi Toppin the entire time and had an injured Julius Randle during the entire postseason.
That’s neither here nor there now. He’s a Pacer now…Here’s wishing you the best Obadiah Toppin! I know you’ll do very well in Indiana!