Ron “Burgundy” Baker hasn’t played in the NBA since 2019. What has he been up to lately?
A fun exercise I do when I’m bored or talking with other Knicks fans is talking about how bad we used to have it. You can go back to the dark Isiah Thomas days or the dark post-Knickstape teams, but a part of Knicks history that even much younger fans can join in the pain of remembering is the late 2010’s Knicks. A colorful cast of characters suited up for a dysfunctional Knicks team in the three years between the Carmelo Anthony trade and the culture change with the hiring of Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau. When a team is that bad and that depressing, a fanbase that still packs the house latches on to some guys. One of those guys was a somewhat polarizing figure. Some saw potential, and some saw him as a forgettable filler piece for some bad teams. I’m talking about Ron Baker.
I met Ron at a rare postgame meet-and-greet in January 2018 after the Knicks beat the Pelicans. He didn’t play that game, nor did Dameyean Dotson, who was also there. They didn’t say who was showing up until postgame, so I was hoping to see someone like Porzingis, Kanter, or Hardaway. Oh well. Seeing Ron was pretty funny. I went to the game with my dad and we were both waiting for the players. He strongly disliked Ron Baker. When they said he was coming to greet us and the other fans, it was a fun moment. We didn’t tell Ron for obvious reasons and took a picture with him and Dot. That fun twist is something we bring up to this day.
Ron Baker grew up in rural Kansas. You don’t see a ton of hoopers from Kansas. Alvan Adams is the all-time leading scorer among players born in Kansas. From 2000 to 2015, the only Kansans who could hold a job in the league for more than a few years were Earl Watson, Maurice Evans, and Adrian Griffin. There’s been more lately, including Willy Cauley-Stein, Gradey Dick, and Christian Braun. Baker’s family was raised on a farm, and a near-death experience when he was 14 while driving a wheat truck only honed his future in basketball. Turns out, it’s hard to be a good farmer if you’re severely allergic to wheat dust.
When Baker started high school in Scott City, he dreamed of playing college ball for the Jayhawks, but that didn’t come to be. He wasn’t heavily recruited into his senior year, with interest only coming from South Dakota State and UAPB. Baker was an undersized guard, but he grew to 6’3” prior to his senior year and balled out, lifting Scott City to a 25-1 record and a 3A state championship behind 26 and 9 from Baker, including a putback game-winner at the buzzer. Despite offers from low-level Division 1 schools, Baker enrolled at Wichita State as a walk-on. He had thoughts about walking on for Kansas, but that didn’t materialize. He was invited for a visit after his senior season ended, but he didn’t go.
Baker was put on scholarship for the 2012-13 season, putting up decent numbers as a starter in his redshirt freshman year. Baker played big minutes for that magical Shockers team that made the Final Four, alongside fellow former Knick Cleanthony Early. The height of his performance during that memorable run was the 16 points and four threes he put up on 1-seeded Gonzaga in the second round.
By his sophomore year, Baker was now a consistent 13 PPG scorer who shot 38% from three, where he would be around for his remaining three years. By this time, he and Early were joined by a future all-star in Fred VanVleet as Wichita State’s new Big 3. Wichita State dominated the Missouri Valley Conference and strolled to a 34-0 record and a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, despite 20 from Baker against Kentucky, they were overwhelmed by the Wildcats’ nucleus of Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, and Julius Randle.
Baker became the Shockers’ leading scorer as Early graduated following the 13-14 season. 15 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 38.3% from 3. Wichita State again made the tournament as a 7-seed, but Baker shot just 30.3% in three games in March Madness as they got bounced by a very good Notre Dame team in the Sweet Sixteen with future NBA talent Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant.
Senior year saw a slight regression for Baker. His highlights coming in a 25-point outing against USC in the AdvoCare Invitational (3 of WSU’s 9 losses came in that tournament, ouch), as well as 25 to lift the Shockers over Loyola-Chicago in the conference tournament. The three-point maestro struggled to a 2-for-11 showing in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, but he was picked up by VanVleet twice. Baker’s collegiate career ended at the hands of 3-seeded Miami in the Sweet Sixteen, as Angel Rodriguez dumped 28 on the Shockers. Baker finished as one of the greatest players in Wichita State history and got an All-American honorable mention at the end of the season.
Lost in all of this was Baker’s participation in the 2015 Pan American Games for Team USA. How did they only win bronze with a team of Baker, Malcolm Brogdon, Ryan Hollins, Taurean Prince, and Denzel Valentine? I guess Canada had Anthony Bennett, Sim Bhullar, Dillon Brooks, and Jamal Murray. How did Brazil win gold?
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
Baker, despite many national showings and being a three-time All-MVC First Team member, went undrafted. He latched on with the Knicks for 2016 Summer League, showing out with a 22-9-5 performance in the Orlando Summer League against one of the Magic teams. Some Knicks legends he played with: Chasson Randle and Marshall Plumlee. In those bleak times for the Knicks, he latched on to a training camp roster spot and made the team. Through 24 games, Baker only recorded more than 10 minutes of playing time once. When the injury-prone Derrick Rose missed a few games with a minor back issue, Baker stepped into the rotation, going 6-for-7 in 23 minutes in a mid-December lost to Golden State. Although his playing time remained brief and sporadic, he earned his way into the rotation in January, including starting a few games with Kristaps Porzingis sidelined. The Knicks prioritized Baker’s development down the stretch, playing him big minutes in March and April, although his counting stats were ugly. He played a career-high 52 games, but had a dreadful 45.6 TS%.
Baker got a two-year, $8.9 million extension despite this. He opened the 2017-18 season in the rotation but missed 14 games early. In late December, he suffered an orbital fracture and we saw Masked Ron. On January 30th against the Nets, Baker suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. He played just 29 games because of injury and only started one. He earned a rotation spot with his play down the stretch as a rookie, but injuries were derailing his career.
Baker opened as a key bench contributor in the 2018-19 season, but coach David Fizdale quickly benched him after he played 58 minutes through three games and scored four points. After another empty 17-minute outing against Miami, Baker would play a grand total of 30 more minutes as a Knick in sporadic appearances before he was waived in December. He was the odd man out in a guard rotation featuring Frank Ntilkina, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Trey Burke.
Baker was scooped up by the Wizards and lasted a few weeks there, getting into four games. He played genuine bench minutes in three of them but Baker’s general inability to put the ball in the basket was on display. In 15 games that season, he played 152 minutes and scored 14 points on a horrid 1-for-13 from three. You can’t blame teams for giving up on that.
No NBA team came calling for Ron, who went overseas to play the 2019-20 season with CSKA Moscow, where he played 11 minutes a game and averaged 2.6 points a game on sub-38% shooting. He parted ways after the season and underwent hip surgery, which prompted his retirement from basketball. It is hard to find footage of him playing for CSKA Moscow, but I guess we have this.
A now shorter-haired Baker became the general manager for the AfterShocks in The Basketball Tournament, a yearly tournament of retired or non-NBA college alumni. In one of the cooler pieces of knowledge about this era of Knicks basketball, Baker is now in the medical field. He graduated from Wichita State with a bachelor’s in Business Finance. Now going by “Ronald” in the professional world, his LinkedIn has him as a Business Operations Manager and a Sports Medicine Leader for Ascension Via Christi, a private healthcare provider based in his home state. From NBA guard to a career in healthcare all before 35. Certainly a story to tell your grandkids.