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The Knicks’ hunt for point guard continued unresolved on day two of free agency, but not for lack of trying.
Dennis Schroder and Reggie Jackson were the top pointers remaining on the board, but the Knicks let an intriguing young guard slip through their fingers when Kendrick Nunn signed a two-year, $ 10 million contract with the Lakers.
The Heat’s first rookie in 2019 had talks with the Knicks, but chose the chance to win a championship. A report said the Knicks offered him more money.
The Knicks have $ 8 million in cap space, as Derrick Rose’s complicated deal is unlikely to take up cap space, but the Early Bird exception which allows teams to sign their own players and exceed the salary cap.
Rose signed a three-year, $ 43 million pact to return. The Knicks are reluctant to make him a full playmaker due to the wear and tear on his surgically repaired knees. Some Knicks brass members believe he is at his best at 25-30 minutes a night.
The Knicks are interested in Schroder as a playmaker and defender, but he’s a poor 3-point shooter. A source told The Post that Schroder has started the process to seek a deal that will start at $ 25 million.
Besides Evan Fournier’s four-year, $ 78 million pact, the Knicks only re-signed their own guys to Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks, Rose and Taj Gibson, who signed a minimum 2-year veteran’s contract. , $ 7 million.
The Knicks entered free agency on Monday night armed with the league’s highest cap space at $ 52.4 million, but for the third summer in a row, they discovered that the cap space n it is not the end all and be all.
Rose, Burks, and Noel signed three-year contracts, but the good news is that their third years aren’t fully guaranteed.
This makes their contracts much more user-friendly and negotiable as part of a regular swap or signing and swapping of free agents in 2022 when they won’t have a lot of cap space. For example, the Heat had no cap space, but crafted a signing and trade on Monday to attract the second most important target for Knicks point guard Kyle Lowry.
In the trade market, Collin Sexton was made available by Cleveland, who wanted a veteran or two in return in addition to draft assets. Now they might be more suited to a Sexton swap with Noel and Burks in the fold.
The Knicks also believe Damian Lillard will hit the trade market perhaps by next season’s trade deadline.
According to a source, the Knicks have had signing and swap talks with Dallas for the signing of Reggie Bullock and chairman Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau like Jalen Brunson, a 2022 free agent. It is not known if the Knicks have asked that Brunson be included in a bigger deal.
Other leaders on the board are veteran George Hill, who was sidelined by the Sixers on Tuesday, oft-injured combo guard Victor Oladipo and strong defenseman Avery Bradley.
The Knicks free agent playmakers are still here with Elfrid Payton, who started last season, and Frank Ntilikina.
The Post learned that the Knicks contacted Payton early in free agency, but it’s unclear if they had a real interest in him as a fallback. Based on social media, Knicks fans would be unhappy to see Payton back. There would be more approval if the 2017 lottery pick and oldest Knick, Ntilikina, made a comeback.
As it stands, Rose is the starting playmaker with rookie draft pick Miles McBride and last May signing Luca Vildoza of Argentina on the depth board. Vildoza has an unsecured four-year pact and the Knicks could open up more ceiling space if he was lifted because he didn’t look good at the Olympics.
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