J.R. Smith now has more than 24 million reasons to smile.
The New York Knicks re-signed two key cogs in their close-to-a-championship machine, in Smith and Pablo Prigioni.
According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Smith’s deal is worth a reported $24.7 million over the next four years. The fourth year, per Howard Beck of the New York Times is a player option.
Now, for all Smith’s flaws, the Knicks needed him back. His 18.1 points per game were the second-highest total on the team, a career high and enough to earn him NBA Sixth Man of the Year honors. Signing him for what averages out to just over $6 million annually is a borderline bargain.
And I really mean that. Smith has a lot of maturing to do steal, and his postseason performance was regrettable, but the framework of a great player is there. He can be a willing defender, solid playmaker when he keeps the ball moving and when he gets hot, it’s like he never misses.
Fans will tend to scoff at the third and fourth years, as they dig into New York’s available cap space in 2015. As it stands, however, Smith’s is a contract that should be very easy to move. Even with the incremental raises, he’ll never be making more than $7 million annually.
Also, he and Raymond Felton are the only players on the books for the 2014-15 campaign. Well, that’s not entirely true. Iman Shumpert will be a restricted free agent who may be signed to an extension and Tim Hardaway Jr. will presumably be on the roster, but they too will be easy to cut ties with if it’s a clean slate the Knicks desire (though they’ll likely want to keep Shumpert).
Oh, and Prigioni could still be there too.
ESPN New York’s Jared Zwerling reported that the Knicks and Prig came to an agreement on a three-year deal. Al Iannazzone of Newsday reports that the third year will be a team option, so yet again we have another player who will be easy to part ways with.
These were two shrewd and necessary moves by the Knicks. These contracts aren’t the burdens that Tyson Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and newcomer Andrea Bargnani’s will be. They’re very movable, to the point where they allow the Knicks to start over next summer if they wish.
Come next June, Stoudemire, Chandler and Bargnani’s contracts all become expiring leading into the 2014-15 campaign. If you don’t think they can finagle deals where they take back nothing as they prepare for the NBA draft or they can’t acquire a game-changer by providing future financial relief to team preparing for a rebuild., you’ve got another thing coming.
Not that the Knicks want this to happen, but Carmelo Anthony can also opt out next summer, meaning that’s $20-plus million that would be removed from the books. Smith will still have another three years on his deal, and Felton another two, but again, those are movable contracts. Theoretically, the Knicks could move Smith and/or Felton to a team flush with cap space for picks, just like with their expiring contracts, and hope to become a player in free agency.
That’s where the Knicks are at right now. They’re not the contenders the Miami Heat are, so they need to be in a position to make some moves if they can’t pull off a miraculous accord this offseason. And they are. I still maintain that they’re not done, that something else we don’t envision happening will go down, but for the future, they’re not as restricted financially as they could be.
When dealing with the Knicks, who are notorious for overpaying anyone and everyone, that’s a good thing. A great thing.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
