LAS VEGAS — Obi Toppin is looking forward. He wants to leave the past in his rearview mirror.
The former Knicks forward’s focus is on the present with his team, raving about his new organization and the opportunity he has entering the final year of his rookie contract.
He only briefly commented on his mostly disappointing three-year tenure with his hometown team.
“All I can do is just do whatever the coach is asking me to do,” the uber-athletic 6-foot-9 Toppin said during a Zoom call, his first public comments since he was traded to the Pacers for a pair of future second-round draft picks. “Whether that’s being out on the floor, having great energy, doing whatever I need to do to help the team win. I didn’t get the minutes I wanted. But now it’s a new start. I’m here in Indy. I got to work for everything I want. And I’m super excited to start.”
There were high hopes for Toppin, the National Player of the Year at Dayton in his final year of college basketball, after the Knicks took him eighth overall in the 2020 draft.
But in his three years as a Knick, he had a limited role off the bench.
Part of that was due to Julius Randle’s emergence as a two-time All-Star and coach Tom Thibodeau’s resistance to playing that duo together due to their defensive limitations.
This past season, Toppin averaged just 14.7 minutes over 67 games, down from the previous season when he logged 17.1 minutes and posted career-highs of nine points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists.
Toppin reportedly got into a shouting match with Thibodeau after he played only six minutes and was benched for the entire second half in Game 4 in Miami.
He had never publicly complained about his role.
The audio of the verbal incident was leaked anonymously, but Toppin declined to address the matter.
“I’m not really worried about the past anymore, thinking about that,” he said. “All I’m worried about is this new start, fresh start, and I can’t wait to get out there.”
One interesting plot twist in the Toppin saga is before he was traded, the Knicks signed his younger brother Jacob, who went undrafted this past season out of Kentucky.
Jacob isn’t playing in the summer league due to an undisclosed minor injury.
“I’m super excited for Jacob, super excited that he has the opportunity to be up here in the league,” Toppin said. “He’s worked extremely hard for this opportunity. Hopefully, we can be on the court again [together] at this level when we play them.”
For now, Toppin is thrilled about the present with the Pacers, an opportunity to play with a young team and show what he can do with an expanded role. Indiana likes to play fast — led by All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, it was ranked fifth in pace last year — which is in Toppin’s wheelhouse.
“I feel like this is a fresh start for me. It’s going to be great just because it’s something new I’m going into,” he said. “But like I said before, it’s a bunch of great players, coaches, everybody who’s here is great. I can’t wait to get started, get down in Indy and get it started.”