JULY 9TH, 1:28pm: The deal is official, both teams announced. It’s O’Quinn to the Knicks, with cash and the option to switch second-rounders in 2019 to the Magic.
JULY 4TH, 6:04pm: The Knicks have agreed to acquire Kyle O’Quinn via sign-and-trade with the Magic, according to Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops (Twitter link). The deal will be for $16MM over four years, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The contract contains an opt out after the third season, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Orlando will receive cash considerations as well as the rights to swap a second-round draft pick in 2019, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Magic had the right to match any offer sheet that O’Quinn signed since they extended a qualifying offer to the 25-year-old.
The big man averaged 5.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game with Orlando last season. Although he started his NBA career as a center, O’Quinn played over two-thirds of his minutes at the four spot last season, per Basketball Reference.
$16?!?! thats it?! deal of the millenium.
The deal could very well be one of the best bargains of the offseason. Knicks lost out on the big names in free agency, but the team is starting to round into form. Team could be a contender for the eighth seed.
Will he start?
O’Quinn should see a heavier workload than he did in Orlando. He did play the four quite a bit last season, but the results weren’t too encouraging from a defensive standpoint. The team was outscored by 10.6 points per 100 possessions when he played next to Vucevic, per NBA.com/Stats (Via Kevin Pelton). New addition Robin Lopez is a better defender than Vucevic, but I’d image the team gives Derrick Williams the nod as the starting power forward, at least initially. Of course, that is just my speculation.