The Knicks are playing the continuity card — and adding a French flavor.
With a league-high $52.6 million in cap space, the Knicks made their biggest — and only — new addition Monday night when scoring swingman Evan Fournier agreed to terms on a four-year, $76 million deal. The final year is a team option.
The rest of their cap space went toward returning some key contributors from their 2020-21 club in an underwhelming night for Knicks president Leon Rose.
The Knicks hammered out a deal to bring back Derrick Rose for three years, $43 million, which used up the rest of their cap room. The Knicks had to fight off a Bulls bid for Rose and hence couldn’t sign him for the $10.3 million early Bird exception that would’ve saved them their cap space.
The Rose signing came after the Knicks re-upped center Nerlens Noel and swingman Alec Burks on surprising three-year deals.
With the Knicks out of cap space, they are still trying to add a new point guard to the roster via trade, according to sources, or by using their $5 million cap-room exception.
The Knicks, after they got destroyed by the Hawks, 4-1, in the first round of the playoffs, are still not a preferred destination for free agents. They were forced to roll it back, with Fournier deemed as their offseason difference-maker.
Knicks general manager Scott Perry, when he worked for the Magic, traded for the 27-year-old Fournier in 2014. Fournier has emerged as a solid scorer and 3-point shooter, though he is not considered as elite a defender as the departing Reggie Bullock.
Fournier has never made the All-Star team, but the Knicks are paying him plenty.
With Fournier in the bag, Bullock, who started at shooting guard last season, signed with the Mavericks on a three-year, $31 million deal.
When it was all said and done, the Knicks essentially traded Fournier for Bullock, whom coach Tom Thibodeau called the Knicks’ “unsung hero’’ during their 41-31 march to the playoffs. Fournier will move into the starting lineup alongside RJ Barrett.
The Knicks made a big commitment to Noel and Burks, who were crucial parts of the 2020-21 pandemic season, when the Knicks played the whole campaign in either an empty or near-empty Garden.
Fournier was traded this past season from Orlando to Boston at the trade deadline, and the Knicks staged talks with the Magic at the time.
Fournier, who averaged 17.1 points and shot 41.3 percent from 3-point range, has starred for France in the Olympics, leading them to an upset over Team USA last week. Coincidentally, the Knicks added one Frenchman but will lose another one, Frank Ntilikina, who became an unrestricted free agent Monday.
The Knicks agreed to re-sign Noel to a three-year, $32 million deal, leaving center Mitchell Robinson’s future in a lot of doubt. The Knicks exercised Robinson’s option of $1.8 million for the 2021-22 season.
Robinson’s durability is still an issue for the club and a photo on social media appeared to show him still in a walking boot taking shots.
The Knicks had to use their cap space to re-sign Noel, who ably filled in for Robinson during his injury-marred season, but didn’t perform well versus the Hawks during the playoffs, in which he was dominated by Clint Capela.
There’s speculation the Knicks might look to extend Robinson’s contract before he becomes a 2022 free agent. With the money going to Noel, however, Robinson now becomes a potentially important trade chip if the Knicks enter talks with Portland for point guard Damian Lillard.
Burks signed for three years, $30 million. He was having a Sixth-Man-of-the-Year type season until he contracted COVID-19 late in the year and didn’t perform well in the playoffs.
The Knicks had to use cap space to ink Burks and Noel as they don’t have their early Bird rights. Noel saved the Knicks when Robinson broke his hand, then his foot. Noel’s poor playoffs could be attributed to a sore ankle.
In his first season with the Knicks this past season, the 27-year-old Noel averaged 5.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and a career-high 2.2 blocks per game.
The Knicks likely brought back Burks and Noel because their higher-profile targets were going elsewhere.
Point guard Chris Paul re-signed with the Suns for four years, $123 million. Point guard Kyle Lowry was sent in a sign-and-trade to the Heat, which will make Miami more formidable in the Eastern Conference as the Knicks try to keep pace with other improved Eastern teams, such as Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and Charlotte.
The Knicks ran out of cap space with the Rose signing though point-guard targets Spencer Dinwiddie, Dennis Schroder and Reggie Jackson were still on the board.
The Knicks also had discussions with the reps for swingman DeMar DeRozan, but he’s not the 3-point shooting wing they were looking for and they preferred Fournier.
Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball, also a Knicks target, went to the Bulls — another team that could be on the rise — in a sign-and-trade.
The Knicks can still get a point guard via trade, with the Cavaliers’ Collin Sexton still on the block. The Knicks are monitoring whether Lillard will ask for a trade. Lillard has the Knicks very high on his wish list, but the Trail Blazers will ship him to a team with the best offer.