Knicks president Phil Jackson told Raymond Felton last month that he’ll trade him during the offseason, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Felton, in the middle of a four-year contract worth close to $14.9MM, is coming off arguably his worst NBA season, and is facing two felony weapons charges stemming from an arrest in February.
The Knicks came close to trading Felton to the Clippers at the deadline this past season, before the team hired Jackson, but L.A. was reluctant to take the point guard on as part of a package that included Iman Shumpert. Felton drew criticism around that time from an NBA executive who, in a conversation with Zagoria, called him “the worst starting point guard in the NBA.”
Felton, who’ll turn 30 next month, averaged a career-low 9.7 points per game this past season, though that’s partly attributable to his dip in shot attempts per contest, which were also at a career low of 9.4. He averaged 5.6 assists and 2.0 turnovers per game, a respectable ratio, though his 31.8% three-point shooting was subpar. It was an overall decline from the previous season, when he recorded a 15.2 PER, and his 12.9 PER this year was just one of many numbers that were lower this season than in 2012/13 for the Knicks.
The Wasserman Media Group client will make more than $3.637MM next season, and he has a player option worth more than $3.95MM for 2015/16. It would probably take a bounceback year for him to consider opting out, so the contract won’t be easy for Jackson to unload this summer.