Landry Shamet had drawn some interest from the New York Knicks this summer, and the two sides have agreed on a one-year deal. The 27-year-old guard has an excellent three-point shot who can come off the bench and provide some scoring, and while the Knicks don’t have a desperate need for guard depth, the need for scoring and shooting is always there in the NBA. Last season he mostly came off of the bench for a struggling Wizards squad, averaging 7.1 points per game with a mediocre 55.6% True Shooting%.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to report the news, and this creates an interesting conversation about what the Knicks have planned for their guards.
Landry Shamet Joins the Knicks On a One-Year Deal
The Knicks add more shooting to their bench, as Landry Shamet has been a solid shooter throughout his NBA career, as he’s averaged 4.9 attempts from downtown on a 38.4% success rate. With how injured the Knicks were to end the season last year, depth has become more important than ever before, and Shamet could be a very useful weapon for this team if they decide to hang onto him.
What the bench lacks is some scoring depth, as while Donte DiVincenzo can put up points, having Landry Shamet there as well can add some more options on that side of the ball to draw attention. Miles McBride is the projected backup point guard on this roster and played some huge minutes last season, and rookie PG Tyler Kolek shined in the Summer League.
Now, the Knicks have a bit of a logjam at the guard position, opening up the idea of potentially moving some depth in that position group to try and land a big man.
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Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa are their primary centers, but they’ve been engaged in trade talks at various points of the summer on different centers. Clint Capela of the Atlanta Hawks could be an option for the Knicks, especially since they’ve shown a willingness to trade pieces away to get some draft capital back. The loss of Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency has hurt the Knicks a good bit, and they have come up short in their pursuit of a proper replacement.
Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz is another option the Knicks have looked at, but they’ve shown a willingness to wait until they get the price they like before making a trade. Danny Ainge will not back down from the high trade prices he sets, and the Knicks would have to move pieces and capital that they may not feel comfortable parting ways with in order to complete that deal.
They have attractive pieces in their guard room to deal from and some draft capital as well, but whether a deal materializes now or later remains to be seen.