The Knicks have rescinded their qualifying offer to shooting guard Langston Galloway, making him an unrestricted free agent, sources told Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Galloway’s qualifying offer was worth $2.725MM.
The move was likely made to fit Brandon Jennings‘ contract offer into cap space, Begley continues. The former Bucks, Pistons and Magic point guard agreed to a one-year, $5MM deal with New York on Monday. Galloway could still re-sign with the Knicks but rescinding the QO obviously reduces their bargaining power, since they could have matched an offer when he was a restricted free agent.
Galloway appeared in all 82 games in his second season with the Knicks, though he started just seven games. He averaged 7.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 24.8 minutes while shooting 39.3% from the field.
The club has not renounced free agent forward Lance Thomas, so it can use Early Bird rights to sign him to a contract worth a maximum of approximately $6.2MM, Begley adds.
Several teams have shown an interest in signing Galloway, and Thomas also has a number of suitors, including the Thunder, Timberwolves, Nets and Hawks, Begley previously reported.
so there is some clarification on my earlier question of what they can offer Thomas. That seems like they could keep him, if he is in fact willing to take less to stay with the knicks
Can they still go over the cap to keep Galloway, or not anymore? Personally think it would have made more sense to renounce Williams, if they cant keep Galloway.
I bet they did renounce Williams’ rights too but it didn’t require such a formal announcement as rescinding a QO. If they didn’t entirely renounce Galloway and retained his minimum salary cap hit on the books they have his early bird rights still (Gilbert Arenas version) and can still give him up to around ~$6MM beginning salary for at least to years to stick around.
Replacing the RFA QO with a UFA cap hit for Galloway would save them about $1.6MM.