The New York Knicks are bringing back big man Precious Achiuwa, the team announced Tuesday. It’s on a one-year, $6 million deal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As part of the deal, Achiuwa waived his no-trade clause, as reported by Ian Begley of SNY.
With the loss of Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Achiuwa became a more vital re-signing, though other suitors were believed to be in the mix.
The contract is a good one for New York, which remains $7.6M below the second apron line where they are hard capped, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. If Achiuwa is useful, and he was pretty decent for the Knicks after coming over as the footnote in the OG Anunoby trade, that’s great. If he’s not, his salary can be paired as an expiring deal with another player to get into the range of a $10-12M trade piece.
That’s the option the Knicks retain by Achiuwa waiving the right to veto a trade down the road, which is typically a right a player signing a one-year deal like this keeps in his bag.
The Knicks could very well be active near next February’s trade deadline. We’ll see if Achiuwa, who was biggest for the Knicks last season when they were really injured around the All-Star break, looks worthy of a full-time backup center spot on a contender. Julius Randle remains a trade possibility, too.
But as it stands, the Knicks look like a legit contender as Leon Rose and company put the final touches on what has been a terrific summer. The trade for Mikal Bridges and re-signing of OG Anunoby, not to mention the team-friendly Jalen Brunson agreed to, has set this team up to make some legit runs for years to come.
