JULY 10TH, 9:34am: The Knicks have officially re-signed Prigioni, the team announced today (Twitter link).
JULY 4TH, 12:01pm: Prigioni's starting salary will be around $1.5MM, with the possibility of an increase to $2MM based on incentives, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
11:56am: Prigioni's deal with the Knicks will be for three years and $6MM, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com (via Twitter). Charania adds that the third year will be partially guaranteed.
If that $6MM overall figure is accurate, it means Prigioni's first-year salary will be close to $2MM, which will take a more significant chunk out of the team's MLE than was anticipated.
11:44am: Pablo Prigioni has reached an agreement with the Knicks that will see him return to New York, his agent tells Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). We had heard earlier today that the Knicks, who had an offer on the table for Prigioni, were likely to re-sign the veteran point guard.
According to that earlier report from Marc Berman of the New York Post, New York had offered Prigioni a two-year deal worth about $2.3MM. While it's not clear yet if those are the terms the two sides agreed to, such a deal would force the Knicks to use a portion of their mini mid-level exception. A first-year salary in the neighborhood of $1.15MM for Prigioni would leave the club with about $2MM of its $3.18MM MLE to use on another player.
The deal is the second of the day for the Knicks, who also reached an agreement on a four-year contract for J.R. Smith. Although the team was able to secure commitments from Prigioni and Smith, New York is unlikely to re-sign Chris Copeland. Copeland is believed to have at least three rival offers on the table, and the Knicks' only means of matching those offers would involve using their mid-level. Assuming just $2MM of that MLE remains, Copeland would almost certainly have to accept a discount to remain with the Knicks.
As for Prigioni, after spending most of his playing career overseas, the Argentinian guard joined the Knicks last season as a 35-year-old rookie. The AAI Sports client averaged 3.5 PPG and 3.0 APG in 78 contests (16.2 MPG) for the club.
Good signing, solid bench player, great on the ball defender and can run the offense. Reminds me of a poor man’s version of Derek Harper. Too bad he didn’t come 10 years earlier.