1:01pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).
THURSDAY, 9:44am: Seraphin’s agency, Klutch Sports, tweeted a photo that shows the big man putting pen to paper as he sits next to Knicks GM Steve Mills, so evidently, the contract is signed, though the Knicks have yet to make a formal announcement.
TUESDAY, 10:11am: The Knicks and Kevin Seraphin have reached agreement on a one-year, $2.8MM deal, a league source tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). It would appear New York is using its $2.814MM room exception on the free agent center and Rich Paul client who figures to become the primary backup for Robin Lopez, whom the Knicks signed in July.
The Wizards, for whom Seraphin has played all of his five NBA seasons, and Lakers were still in pursuit as of last week, as Scotto reported then. The Suns and Mavs appeared to be suitors in the early going, while the Spurs and Thunder reportedly saw him as a fallback option. The former 17th overall pick had seemingly been looking for an opportunity to start, but outside of the Mavs, none of the teams in the race for him appear to have openings in the middle. He played this past season as a backup to Marcin Gortat in Washington after signing his qualifying offer last summer.
New York has only been carrying 12 guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, so there’s certainly room enough for Seraphin, who presumably becomes the 13th. Langston Galloway figures to stick on his partially guaranteed contract, and the team is reportedly expected to sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo, so the addition of Seraphin does make it especially difficult to envision Darion Atkins or Wesley Saunders making it to opening night on their camp deals.
Do you think Seraphin is the right guy for the Knicks to use their room exception on? Leave a comment to let us know.
I think he will buried on the bench at center behind Lopez, O’Quinn and he will need to beat Lou Amundson in training camp as the third string Center. Even Kristaps may get time at the 5 as he did in summer league. .I guess it is a Luxury to be deep in Bigs and he cost less that Derrick Williams so its not much of a gamble. I just hope they keep Melo at the 4 most of the time along with Kristaps. The older Melo gets the harder it will be to guard shooting forwards and a clunkly PF may clog the lane as it did with Stat.
Not Good
Love the signing. One year deal on a guy with great upside. He’s very good offensively around the hoop. He will be the primary backup to Lopez. If he approaches his potential, we’ll keep him. If he doesn’t, he’s gone after the year. Really like what Phil was able to do under tough circumstances. Team will overachieve if Melo is healthy all year.