Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2017 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2017/18 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the New York Knicks.
Signings:
- Tim Hardaway Jr.: Four years, $70.95MM. Fourth-year player option. Signed offer sheet; Hawks declined to match.
- Ron Baker: Two years, $8.872MM. Second-year player option.
- Michael Beasley: One year, minimum salary.
- Ramon Sessions: One year, minimum salary.
- Luke Kornet: Two-way contract. One year. $50K guaranteed.
Camp invitees:
- Jarrett Jack: One year, minimum salary. Summer contract.
- Xavier Rathan-Mayes: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10. (Waived)
- Nigel Hayes: One year, minimum salary. $50K guarantee. (Waived)
- Trey Burke: One year, minimum salary. Summer contract. (Waived)
- Jamel Artis: One year, minimum salary. Summer contract. (Waived)
Trades:
- Acquired the rights to hire Scott Perry from the Kings in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick and cash ($400K).
- Note: The 2019 second-round pick will be the second-most favorable of the Cavaliers’, Rockets’, and Magic’s selections.
- Acquired Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and the Bulls’ 2018 second-round pick from the Thunder in exchange for Carmelo Anthony.
Draft picks:
- 1-8: Frank Ntilikina — Signed to rookie contract
- 2-44: Damyean Dotson — Signed to three-year, $4.097MM contract. Third year not guaranteed.
- 2-58: Ognjen Jaramaz — Stashed overseas
Departing players:
- Carmelo Anthony
- Justin Holiday
- Maurice Ndour (waived)
- Marshall Plumlee (waived)
- Chasson Randle (waived)
- Derrick Rose
- Sasha Vujacic
Other offseason news:
- Fired president of basketball operations Phil Jackson.
- Promoted Steve Mills to president of basketball operations; hired Scott Perry as general manager.
- Hired Gerald Madkins as assistant GM; hired Craig Robinson as VP of player development and G League operations.
- Exercised 2018/19 team option on Kristaps Porzingis.
Salary cap situation:
- Used up cap room. Now operating over the cap, but under the tax line. Carrying approximately $102MM in guaranteed team salary. Only minimum salary exception available.
Check out the New York Knicks’ full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.
Story of the summer:
Over the course of the last several seasons, it became abundantly clear that the Knicks’ worst enemy was on their own payroll. After a needlessly dramatic 2016/17 campaign, the club appeared destined to wallow in yet another campaign of cringe-worthy in-fighting and fascinating mismanagement.
Then president of basketball operations Phil Jackson resigned from his post.
In the weeks and months after Jackson was replaced by former team general manager Steve Mills, with Scott Perry coming aboard to step in as the new GM, the Knicks have regained some semblance of normalcy and it already appears as though the club is trending in a positive direction.
The Knicks may still be a long way from actually competing, even in the East, but they’ve amassed a semi-intriguing pile of assets. Sure, some of the club’s new core is raw and imperfect, and the roster that broke camp last week probably won’t be the one that ends New York’s playoff drought. But the current roster does feature several valued building blocks that the team’s revamped front office can actually work with heading forward.
The fact that the Knicks’ core players will no longer be alienated by their own employer is simply a bonus.