He's the most known and scrutinized basketball player on a team worth $4 billion. He plays in the media capital of the world. He also moonlights as a spokesman for one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturers. The point is: It can be easy to forget just how young New York Knicks forward Kevin Knox is.

Knox is 19. He won't turn 20 until Aug. 11, making him the third-youngest player in the NBA. He's not old enough to buy a beer and too young to check into some hotels. If he lived in Mississippi, he'd need to receive parental consent to get married.

Like all kids, though, Knox is both eager and desperate to grow up. An example: In late February, after NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina—where he participated in the league's annual Rising Stars game—Knox returned to his hometown of Tampa, Florida, for some much-needed rest. Being who he is, though—the son of a former NFL wide receiver who boasts about his family's motto, Nobody works harder than the Knoxes—Knox and his dad, Kevin Knox, took some time during this mini vacation to squeeze in a workout at Knox's alma mater, Tampa Catholic High School.

"Hey man," the elder Knox said to his son at one point. "You got a little something coming in on the chin there."

The peach fuzz had gone unnoticed in the morning, but now, with the beads of sweat dripping down Knox II's face, it was impossible to miss: thin, stringy black fuzz dangling from his chin. The goatee wasn't exactly new—if you enhance the pictures from last summer's draft night about 300 percent and squint, you can spot the outlines of one—but the hair had grown longer than ever.

"Daddy, I'm trying to get this mustache and beard going," he replied. But, he added, he was having trouble. Did his dad have any tips?

During a phone interview, Kevin Sr. couldn't help but laugh while recalling the story.

"That kind of lets you know how much growing he still has to do," he says. "He's a teenager in a grown man's world."

All rookies encounter similar hurdles: Seasons are long. (Not counting NBA Summer League and preseason, Knox has played more games this year—74—than he did the previous two combined.) Games are fast. Opponents are big. Prospects enter the league expecting an arduous road. But experiencing those realities firsthand still shocks the system.

"There's a lot of bumps and bruises, back-to-back games, you get beat up," Knox, last year's No. 9 pick, says during an interview following a late-season practice. "My body's definitely sore. It's something I've talked about a lot with the other rookies. How fast the pace is, how strong these guys are."

And yet, something about Knox's year has felt different, longer than most and more seesaw-like. Draft night boos flipped to raucous summer-league cheers. Preseason starts turned into regular-season benchings. He reclaimed his starting spot, had it stripped, had his "motor" criticized by his head coach around the same time and soon after reclaimed that spot again.

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

There were stretches when Knox dazzled, like in December, when he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month. But then there were the forced shots (Knox finished in just the 10th percentile among forwards in points generated per shot attempt, according to Cleaning the Glass), undelivered passes (Knox ranked in the 5th percentile among forwards in rate of assists dished compared to how often he had the ball) and missed defensive rotations (according to defensive real plus-minus, Knox has been the NBA's third-worst defender). On those occasions, he looked overwhelmed.

"That's just part of being in the NBA—there are still superstars in this league that go up and down through the season," Knox says. "I see a lot of people judging me and my rookie season, but I'm not really worried about struggling. I know I'm only going to get better."

The question is whether he'll be granted the opportunity.

In February, the Knicks traded their previous savior, Kristaps Porzingis, to the Dallas Mavericks to clear cap room for two max players, a carrot they hope will help them land their next messiah. The move was destabilizing for Knox: Porzingis lent the rookie his encouragement after draft-night boos. Knox also lost a mentor in veteran guard Courtney Lee—the teammate Knox had leaned on most for advice. (The Knicks needed to dump Lee's salary to clear the cap space.) "They were close," Knox's mother, Michelle, says. "That was tough for him."

Developing while on steady ground is one thing. Developing while the foundation and priorities are shifting is another. Knicks owner James Dolan made the reason for a trade clear about a month later during a rare interview. "I can tell you, from what we've heard, I think we're going to have a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents," Dolan told ESPN Radio host Michael Kay. It's an open secret that the Knicks' primary target is Kevin Durant, and they'll likely court Kyrie Irving too.

Any team that employs those players is one trying to win a title, making Knox the rare lottery pick playing for a team that intends to compete for a championship in his sophomore season.

Knox says he's doing all he can to shrink the learning curve. He's candid about his need to improve, and he mentions reading the floor and finishing at the rim as two priorities. "Guys in the league have grown-man strength," he says. "They're not going to move off when you bump them. They know your moves and are going to cut them off. You have to be strong and have counters. You have to slow down."

He's approached the Knicks a few times this year seeking specific help. Early in the season, he realized his shaky off-the-bounce game was allowing defenders to sit on his right hand, forcing him to his weak side. So he asked if he could spend some of his pregame warm-up time working on ball-handling in addition to his shooting and pick-and-roll work. The Knicks, enthused and eager to help, set Knox up with assistant coach Royal Ivey, a former NBA guard. Over the season's final couple of months, Knox spent about 30 minutes before every game dribbling two balls up and down the floor under Ivey's supervision.

"Identifying and addressing his weaknesses has always been a strength of ours," Knox's father says.

When Knox was in high school, he would follow poor performances with nighttime training sessions with his father and his trainer, Akii Dean, at the local Boys & Girls Club. This season, he continued that custom. Many nights, he and his cousin Jernell Hughes—and his father, if he was in town—would drive north from Madison Square Garden, past Knox's White Plains apartment and up to the Knicks training facility so he could get in some jumpers to the sounds of some of his favorite artists: Drake, Meek Mill and Lil Baby.

This willingness to work is a trait the Knicks point to when asked whether they're worried about some of Knox's troubling numbers or how some data suggests rookie woes are more predictive of future struggles than many would like to believe. They love that, away from the court, Knox never complains. They say they see progress on the court. A few recent off-the-dribble crosscourt passes have them particularly excited.

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

"A lot of it is, with young guys, when you're just surviving, you're just looking at that hoop and wanting that ball to go in, you're not looking at the various things that are going on out there," Knicks head coach David Fizdale says. "A lot of times you predetermine what you're doing. Kevin had gotten out of that for a while, but when he hit his struggles—which is what happens with most young guys—they go back to old habits."

The way the Knicks see it, Knox just spent a season carrying more weight than any rookie should. Without much veteran support, his team finished with the league's worst record and juggled lineups all season. The Knicks cite Paul George (7.8 points per game on 45.3 percent shooting in his first season), DeMar DeRozan (8.6 points and 0.7 assists) and De'Aaron Fox (11.6 points on 41.2 percent shooting) as examples of lost rookies who eventually found their way.

But those players were all given time to develop. None of them, as sophomores, had to endure the microscope of playing for a team like the Knicks, who will have undergone drastic measures to vault into contention virtually overnight. Knox's mistakes will get magnified, carry more weight. Miss a weak-side rotation next December, and the Knicks might be playing Game 7 on the road in May. Toss up a lazy shot, and Fizdale, who has been abruptly terminated before, might wonder if he should trust a 20-year-old with playing time when doing so could cost him his job.

These are the pressures Knox will face. Everything is changing around him. Yet, somehow, he must still figure out how to grow.

"When I finally got here, it was like, 'Man, this is a dream come true,'" Knox says. "But I know I still have a lot of work to do. I want to play years in this league."