- Julius Randle‘s new four-year extension with the Knicks includes a 15% trade kicker, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). Unlike several other deals with 15% trade kickers, Randle’s contract is well below the maximum, so he’d be in position to earn a sizeable bonus if he’s traded in the coming years.
Taj Gibson talked to several teams in free agency and some offered more money than the Knicks, but he preferred to stay in New York with coach Tom Thibodeau, writes Owen O’Brien of Newsday. Gibson re-signed for $10.1MM over two years with a team option on the second season.
“It was real frustrating, but it was a good frustrating,” Gibson said of the free agency experience. “But at the same time, I knew I made the right decision. Money doesn’t move me, I just wanted to be a Knick.”
Keeping Gibson was part of a busy offseason for New York, which added Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier in addition to re-signing several key parts of last season’s 41-31 team. Gibson said the Knicks look “really stacked” and he’s looking forward to resuming his role as one of their veteran leaders.
“They know I’m always willing and ready to play, but right now I’m just happy to be the vet on the team,” he said. “The guy that comes in and works out hard every day — but always capable — and I’m having a good time being with these young guys every day and just trying to build a culture.”
There’s more from New York:
- Free agent guard J.J. Redick, who is rumored to have interest in joining the Knicks or Nets, doesn’t expect to be with a team when training camps open next month, relays Jenna Lemoncelli of The New York Post. Redick, who prefers to play close to his family in Brooklyn, talked about the situation on his “Old Man and the Three” podcast. “We’ll make a decision on next season — what team, what city, etc. — probably sometime in the next two or three months,” Redick said. “… But, you know, I would say, pretty much definitively, like, I won’t be in a training camp to start the season. That’s not gonna happen.”
- Now that Julius Randle has a four-year extension in place, he wants to do everything he can to build a championship team, including serving as a recruiter in free agency, per Marc Berman of The New York Post. The Knicks had more than $50MM in cap space this summer, but didn’t land any top-tier free agents, spending most of that money to keep their own players. “I told them if they need me to help, I’ll definitely get involved,” Randle said. “At the end of the day, winning is all that matters. My biggest goal is to win a championship here in New York. Whatever I can help to make that happen, to bring a championship to the city, they need me to help and get a player, I’m confident we’re doing that for sure.”
- Randle paid close attention to the Summer League team and said Thibodeau loves the work ethic displayed by rookies Miles McBride, Quentin Grimes and Jericho Sims, Berman adds. “When I saw those guys, man, they’re competitive and they’re skilled,” Randle said. “Those guys sound like they’re going to get in and add to our core guys.”
The NBA’s summer of player movement may be winding down, but there are still some questions looming over teams. An ESPN panel of insiders looked at some of them on Thursday (before the Lauri Markkanen–Larry Nance–Derrick Jones Jr. three team deal broke).
Among the predictions that were made: Nick Friedell believes Damian Lillard will eventually end up with the Knicks, just not in the immediate future; Kirk Goldsberry thinks that J.J. Redick will end up with the Nets; Andrew Lopez predicts Paul Millsap will start the season not on a roster, but will be picked up mid-season.
The crew also looks at which new coaches have the hardest road ahead: Chauncey Billups with the Blazers and Willie Green with the Pelicans each received two votes, while Jason Kidd with the Mavericks received one.
And, of course, the much-discussed Ben Simmons–Sixers impasse was the first topic of debate.
We have more news from around the world of hoops:
- The NBA will require its referees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, barring medical or religious exemptions, the league announced today. A report from ESPN laid out the scope of the policy, including that referees will receive booster shots once those become recommended, and that refs without an approved exemption who aren’t vaccinated will not be eligible to work games.
- Knicks center Nerlens Noel‘s lawsuit has the potential to change the NBA-agent landscape, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Fischer writes that as opposed to the league’s tampering rules between teams and players, there are no such prohibitions on agents trying to poach clients, and that this unprecedented peek behind the curtain could give the league incentive to put some protections in place.
- John Jenkins has signed with BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque in France, reports Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw (via Twitter). Jenkins played eight seasons in the NBA, averaging 5.0 PPG while shooting 36.7% from three on 319 career attempts. Jenkins recently participated with the Team USA select team as Team USA prepared for their eventual gold medal run.
- Dakota Mathias has agreed to sign with the G League Ignite, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The 26-year-old played eight games for the Sixers as one of their two-way contracts last season, and Scotto reports that several teams have interest in him as a two-way player again this year. Mathias averaged six PPG and 1.6 APG in 15.4 minutes a night for Philadelphia.
- Nerlens Noel‘s lawsuit against Klutch Sports agent Rich Paul may have stemmed from a grievance filed by Paul, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Paul claimed that Noel still owes him $200K as commission from the one-year, $5MM contract he signed with the Knicks last year. As we previously relayed, Noel is suing Paul for the loss of approximately $58MM regarding a past extension offer from the Mavericks.
- Knicks All-Star Julius Randle preferred stability over more money, he said in explaining why he signed a four-year, $117MM extension with the team, Andrew Lopez of ESPN.com examines. Randle would’ve been eligible for a new contract worth up to roughly $200MM if he waited until next summer. “The money was one thing, but for me, it was more about the situation as far as my happiness, the basketball situation, my family, just being stable and being in New York and really just continuing to build this thing up,” Randle said. “When I signed here two years ago, this was my vision, to be able to lock in something long term and build something from the ground up. That’s what we’re doing. All hands on deck.”
AUGUST 27: Randle’s extension is official, the Knicks announced (via Twitter).
“Julius Randle embodies everything you want your star player and leader to be about, and we couldn’t be happier about the long-term commitment we made to each other,” said team president Leon Rose. “His hard work and dedication to his craft are second to none and what he did last season won’t be forgotten by New Yorkers any time soon. We can’t wait to see what’s next for him.”
AUGUST 5: The Knicks have agreed to sign forward Julius Randle to a contract extension, tacking on four years to the one season left on his existing contract, agents Aaron Mintz and Steven Heumann tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will include a player option for 2025/26, per Wojnarowski.
While Wojnarowski reports that the four-year extension will be worth $117MM, that figure includes some incentives — the extension will have a base value of about $106.4MM and could max out at just over $122MM if Randle earns all of his bonuses in every season of the deal (which is very unlikely). It’s the most the Knicks could have offered Randle this season.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), the incentives in the contract are related to making the playoffs, earning an All-Star nod, and making the All-Defense team. Randle earned the first two in 2020/21.
Randle, 26, had his best year as a pro this past season, establishing new career bests in PPG (24.1), RPG (10.2), APG (6.0), and 3PT% (.411), among several other categories.
The former seventh overall pick appeared in all but one regular season game, averaging an NBA-high 37.6 minutes per contest and helping to lead the Knicks to a No. 4 seed in the East and their first playoff berth since 2013. He was named Most Improved Player for the 2020/21 season and made the All-NBA Second Team.
Because Randle would be eligible for a longer, more lucrative contract if he waited until 2022 to reach free agency, there was some uncertainty about how willing he’d be to discuss an extension with the Knicks this summer. However, Wojnarowski writes that the former Laker and Pelican was eager to commit long-term to a team and city “he has come to adore.”
Randle also wanted to give the Knicks some financial flexibility rather than pushing for a higher salary in a year, per Marc Berman of The New York Post and Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter links). Of course, locking in a new deal now gives him some security in the event of an injury or regression next season.
It has been a busy week for the Knicks, who agreed to multiyear deals with free agents Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, and Derrick Rose. All of those players are signing either three- or four-year contracts with team options in the final season. The club also intends to sign Kemba Walker, who should hit waivers soon after reaching a buyout agreement with the Thunder.
Randle’s deal represents one of several lucrative contract extensions agreed to around the NBA this week. Stephen Curry (Warriors), Trae Young (Hawks), Jimmy Butler (Heat), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder) have all agreed to long-term deals worth well into the nine figures, while Luka Doncic (Mavericks) is set to finalize an extension following the Olympics.
Knicks center Nerlens Noel has filed a lawsuit against agent Rich Paul and the Klutch Sports agency, reports Darren Heitner of SportsAgentBlog.com.
The suit, which was filed in Dallas, Texas, claims that in a birthday party for the Klutch-represented Ben Simmons in 2017, Paul convinced Noel that he was a “$100MM man,” and that if Noel fired then-agent Happy Walters and signed with him, Paul would get him a max contract. Noel subsequently left Walters and signed with Paul.
As part of the same pitch, Paul allegedly told Noel to cut off negotiations with the Mavericks, who had offered Noel a four-year, $70MM extension, and instead sign his one-year, $4.1MM qualifying offer. After a season plagued by injury, however, his free agency proved unsuccessful, as he claims that no one from Klutch presented any ideas for how to pursue long-term contracts, and none were forthcoming on the market, leading him to sign a two-year, $3.75MM contract with the Thunder, which Noel claims was largely orchestrated by Thunder stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George, rather than by Rich Paul.
Finally, the lawsuit states that Noel learned that multiple teams, including the Sixers, Clippers, and Rockets informed him that they attempted to get in touch with Paul about offering Noel a contract, but were unable to make contact.
Noel left Klutch Sports in December of 2020, and is suing Paul and the agency for the loss of approximately $58MM stemming from the initial declined extension with Dallas.
The Knicks are open to signing Mitchell Robinson to a contract extension before the 2021/22 season begins, “as long as it’s not crazy,” a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post. Robinson, who is one of the Knicks’ longest-tenured players, is entering a contract year and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2022 if he doesn’t sign a new deal before then.
As Berman notes, there are reasons both sides may want to wait on an extension. Robinson is coming off a season in which he suffered a broken hand and broken foot, so the Knicks might want to see him at full health again before making a major investment. The team’s multiyear commitment to Nerlens Noel in free agency also reduces the urgency to lock up Robinson.
Robinson, meanwhile, could significantly boost his stock in the coming months if he shows he’s back to 100% health and continues to improve on both ends of the court. For now, Berman says, league insiders consider the big man’s value to be around the mid-level or slightly higher. Berman suggests $44MM over four years could be a fair price for both sides.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- During his introductory press conference last week, Kemba Walker said he came “pretty close” to signing with the Knicks as a free agent in 2019 before heading to Boston instead. A source tells Berman that Walker had been interested in teaming up with Kevin Durant for the Knicks, but Durant – of course – chose to go to Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving instead. Berman says the Knicks and Walker decided at that point that a union wouldn’t make sense without another star on board.
- According to Berman, multiple sources believe the Knicks decided to add Dwayne Bacon to their roster due to a recommendation from his former coach Steve Clifford, who is close with Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. However, as Ian Begley of SNY.tv noted last week (via Twitter), Bacon is on an Exhibit 10 contract, so he’s no lock to make the regular season roster.
- In his ranking of all 30 teams’ offseason moves, David Aldridge of The Athletic places the Knicks at No. 13, praising the team’s signing of Walker but arguing that losing Reggie Bullock will hurt.
Paul Millsap and J.J. Redick are two of the most talented unrestricted free agents left on the board, but there’s a sense that the two veterans – who are 36 and 37 years old, respectively – may not be in a hurry to pick a team for the 2021/22 season, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Redick has stated publicly that he’ll wait until sometime in the fall – or even later – to sign a new contract, and Fischer says people around the league believe Millsap will take his time too.
“I think (Millsap)’s gonna be a minimum or a midseason guy,” one source told Fischer. “What’s the rush? The money wouldn’t get much better, and he can just pick his team. What if New Orleans is really good come January? What happens when some guy gets hurt, and that team starts scrambling for a replacement? He can pick his spot.”
As Fischer observes, Millsap didn’t have much of an offseason in 2020, having reported to training camp about two months after Denver was eliminated from the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals. Facing another abridged offseason in 2021, Millsap may benefit in the long run from taking a longer break.
Here’s more from Fischer on Millsap and Redick:
- The Warriors have been the team most frequently linked to Millsap, but he has also drawn interest from the Hawks, Nets, Pelicans, Sixers, and Timberwolves, according to Fischer, who adds that there are no indications the big man has gotten close to finalizing a deal with any of those teams.
- Sources tell Fischer that in discussions with potential suitors, Millsap has been seeking a salary worth some or all of the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9MM).
- Redick figures to draw interest from teams around the NBA, with one Western Conference head coach telling Fischer that he’d like to have the sharpshooter on his roster. However, there’s a league-wide belief that Redick is eyeing the Knicks or Nets so that he can remain close to home. Some execs have speculated that Redick could even retire if he doesn’t land with either of those teams, Fischer writes.
- Any team with interest in adding Redick would likely want more information on the heel injury that limited him in 2020/21, says Fischer. Sources tell Bleacher Report that teams flagged that issue back at the March trade deadline when New Orleans was shopping Redick.
In a conversation with Steve Serby of The New York Post, Knicks point guard Kemba Walker discussed the opportunity he received this offseason to join his hometown team.
Walker, a four-time All-Star with the Hornets and Celtics, has already had a busy summer. He was traded to the Thunder, then reached a buyout agreement with Oklahoma City so that he could sign a two-year, $18MM deal with New York.
“There’s nothing more I will want than to win a championship in New York,” Walker said. “I’m gonna give it every-everything I got. Every time I step on the court I’m gonna play super-hard, 110 percent. As far as a championship, I can’t put a time or date on it, but just know that we’re gonna be working towards that goal.”
Knee issues hampered the end of his tenure in Boston, but when he was able to see the floor last season Walker’s counting stats were respectable. Across 43 games, he averaged 19.3 PPG, 4.9 APG, and 4.0 RPG, with a shooting line of .420/.360/.899.
Walker discussed his enthusiasm to play with foundational All-NBA Knicks forward Julius Randle. When asked what he most appreciated about his new teammate, Walker replied, “His toughness, and his growth from the last couple of years into now, I’m just like in awe the way he has grown as a basketball player.”
RJ Barrett, 2019’s third overall pick and the Knicks’ second-leading scorer last year, also warranted special mention from Walker.
“I’ve just been a fan of him,” Walker said. “When he was in high school I saw him play and I saw his highlights and stuff like that, I’ve always been a super-big fan of him. Playing against guys like RJ, the first thing I noticed was how hard he plays, it’s not even the skill. … That’s a real talent, playing hard. So I’m looking forward to just helping those guys a little bit more, teaching them the ropes. Just being a vet.”
Walker has also already developed a bond with second-year point guard Immanuel Quickley.
“When I signed, he was one of the first guys to text me, which was really cool, welcome me in, asked me to get some workouts in with me, I definitely appreciated that,” Walker said. “But playing against him last year, even watching at Kentucky, he has so much potential. I think I could be able to help him get there.”
AUGUST 20: The Knicks have officially signed Walker, the team tweets.
AUGUST 2: The Knicks have reached an agreement to sign former Florida State shooting guard M.J. Walker to an Exhibit 10 contract, reports Jordan Schultz of ESPN (Twitter link).
Walker, who went undrafted last Thursday, averaged 12.2 PPG, 2.5 APG, and 2.5 RPG in 24 games (29.0 MPG) as a senior in 2020/21. He posted an impressive three-point shooting percentage of 42.3% and earned a spot on the All-ACC Second Team.
Walker is the second undrafted rookie reported to have reached a contract agreement with the Knicks, who also lined up a training camp deal for Clemson’s Aamir Simms.
An Exhibit 10 contract will put Walker in position to either have his deal converted to a standard contract or two-way deal if he makes the team. If not, he could earn a bonus worth up to $50K by joining the Westchester Knicks, New York’s G League affiliate.