Duane Washington Jr.'s professional basketball journey will continue with his fourth NBA organization in as many years.
Washington has been dealt from the New York Knicks to the Charlotte Hornets as part of a three-team deal that sends star forward Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Knicks for forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo.
The Hornets are receiving three second-round picks (two via Knicks, one via Minnesota), along with DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown and Duane Washington Jr., to complete the Karl-Anthony Towns-Julius Randle-Donte DiVincenzo trade, sources tell me, @JonKrawczynski and @FredKatz.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 2, 2024
The same deal also sent former Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop from the Knicks to the Timberwolves.
After going undrafted in 2021, Washington signed a two-way deal with the Indiana Pacers and played 48 games in the 2021-22 season, averaging 9.9 points and 1.8 assists per game. He was waived by the Pacers following that campaign and signed with the Phoenix Suns, who played him in 31 games in 2022-23 as he averaged 7.9 points per contest.
Once again waived after that campaign, the Knicks signed him to a two-way deal, but he never saw any NBA action for the organization, only playing for its G League team, the Westchester Knicks. He was waived and re-signed three times.
It’s uncertain whether Washington will ever play for the Hornets as he signed this summer with Partizan, a basketball team in Serbia. While Partizan released Washington to allow the Knicks to trade him to the Hornets, reports have indicated that Partizan plans to bring him back.
Multiple NBA and international sources told @spotrac that the Duane Washington Jr. sign-and-trade part of the Knicks-Timberwolves-Hornets deal took a LOT of creativity on the part of the NBA side, the FIBA side and on the side of Partizan.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 2, 2024
Partizan has some huge Euroleague games
Washington spent three seasons at Ohio State, his best being his final year in 2020-21 when he averaged 16.4 points and 2.9 assists per game. He declared for the 2021 NBA draft after his junior season.
