{"id":78083,"date":"2024-05-20T10:57:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T14:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=78083"},"modified":"2024-05-20T10:58:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T14:58:12","slug":"who-are-the-knicks-key-free-agents-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/20\/who-are-the-knicks-key-free-agents-this-offseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are The Knicks Key Free Agents This Offseason?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time in decades, the New York Knicks advanced to the second round in back-to-back seasons. The absurd amount of injuries the team faced during their playoff run eventually proved to be too much. They lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in seven games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They will now prepare for an important offseason trying to take that next step. This is a franchise that hasn\u2019t won it all since 1973.\u00a0Here are some of the key free agents they will need to decide on in the offseason. The age listed is how old they will be when next season begins.<\/p>\n

Who Are The Knicks Key Free Agents This Offseason?<\/h2>\n

OG Anunoby (Age: 27)<\/h3>\n

Turning 27 on July 17, OG Anunoby<\/a> actually has a player option for next season worth $18 million. Nobody is expecting him to pick that up though\u00a0The 6-7 forward fit seamlessly with the Knicks after they acquired him from the Toronto Raptors. He averaged 14.1 points in his 27 regular season games with the team and played the lockdown defense that he was known for.<\/p>\n

As often has been the case in his career though, injuries kept him off the court far too frequently. Anunoby missed 27 games with an elbow ailment. He then missed Games 3-6 of the Indiana series with a hamstring injury. Anunoby tried to play Game 7, but he only played five minutes as he clearly wasn\u2019t healthy.<\/p>\n

Isaiah Hartenstein (Age: 26)<\/h3>\n

Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> is expected to see a large raise from the two-year, $16 million deal he signed with New York in the 2022 offseason.\u00a0With center Mitchell Robinson<\/a> missing ample time with an ankle injury, Hartenstein thrived after entering the starting lineup. He was one of the better offensive rebounders in the league and tied a Knicks playoff record with 12<\/a> in their Game 5 meeting with the Pacers.\u00a0The 7-0” center would seem to be an important player for the Knicks to bring back, especially with Robinson\u2019s injury history.<\/p>\n

Precious Achiuwa (Age: 25 – Restricted)<\/h3>\n

Largely seen as a throw-in with Anunoby in the Raptors deal, Precious Achiuwa<\/a> played a larger role than many expected. The fourth-year pro started 18 games for the Knicks in the regular season and two in the playoffs.\u00a0In his 49 regular season games with New York, Achiuwa posted averages of 7.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks. As a restricted free agent, the Knicks will have the chance to match any offer sheet Achiuwa may receive.<\/p>\n

Alec Burks (Age: 33)<\/h3>\n

In his 13th NBA season, Alec Burks<\/a> was a huge disappointment for the Knicks after they acquired him from the Detroit Pistons<\/a>. He didn\u2019t see the floor in seven of New York\u2019s last 12 regular season games nor in their first seven playoff games.\u00a0Due to numerous injuries, Burks<\/a> finally began getting playing time against Indiana and capitalized. \u00a0In Games 3-7 of that series, he averaged<\/a> 18.8 points on 51.0% shooting (42.9% from three-point territory).<\/p>\n

Jericho Sims (Age: 25 – Team Option)<\/h3>\n

Jericho Sims<\/a> is included here since he made 11 starts for the Knicks this season and 16 last season. He has a partially guaranteed club option for next season that will be fully guaranteed at a little over $2 million if he remains on the roster through August 16 according to Spotrac<\/a>.\u00a0Selected in the second round by New York in the 2021 NBA Draft, Sims has a ton of leaping ability. He hasn\u2019t shown all that much development though in his three seasons, but the Knicks may decide to bring him back for depth purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time in decades, the New York Knicks advanced to the second round in back-to-back seasons. The absurd amount of injuries the team faced during their playoff run eventually proved to be too much. They lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in seven games. They will now prepare for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":78130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,12],"tags":[165,993,4386,1082,3148],"class_list":["post-78083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-knicks","tag-alec-burks","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-jericho-sims","tag-og-anunoby","tag-precious-achiuwa"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}