{"id":88126,"date":"2024-07-30T18:27:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T22:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88126"},"modified":"2024-07-30T18:30:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T22:30:11","slug":"knicks-sign-free-agent-precious-achiuwa-one-year-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/30\/knicks-sign-free-agent-precious-achiuwa-one-year-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Sign Free Agent Big Man To One-Year Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, the New York Knicks announced that they\u2019ve re-signed free agent big man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/achiupr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Precious Achiuwa<\/a>. According to ESPN senior insider Adrian Wojnarowski, he\u2019ll be returning on a one-year, $6 million contract.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Precious Achiuwa has agreed on a one-year, $6 million deal to return to the Knicks, his representative Raymond Brothers tells ESPN. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UZoxIIk1kV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/UZoxIIk1kV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1818398396824031431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The 20th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Achiuwa was traded to the Knicks \u2014along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OG Anunoby<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/flynnma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malachi Flynn<\/a> \u2014last December. In 49 games with the Knicks, he averaged 7.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per contest.<\/p>\n<h2>Knicks Sign Free Agent Precious Achiuwa to One-Year Contract<\/h2>\n<p>Due to a logjam at the center position, Achiuwa seemed to be the odd man out entering the offseason. Yet, his return might have been in the cards all along.<\/p>\n<p>New York undoubtedly wanted to bring back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harteis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>, who couldn\u2019t turn down a financial windfall. Signing a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/01\/2024-nba-free-agency-thunder-add-former-knicks-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">three-year, $87 million contract<\/a> with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he\u2019ll now be one-half of their Slim Towers. If they had managed to convince Hartenstein to stay, Achiuwa may have had to sign elsewhere or accept an end of bench role.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Knicks could have also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/10\/nba-rumors-knicks-targeting-center-trade-match-sixers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">been motivated to<\/a> trade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/robinmi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mitchell Robinson<\/a> if Hartenstein re-signed.<\/p>\n<p>In an ego-less locker room, they could\u2019ve co-existed peacefully. Yet, Robinson has a documented history of being outspoken about his desire to display his talents. This could simply be viewed as a nod to his shot-blocking skills, as he\u2019s averaged 1.9 blocks per game throughout his career. However, the 26-year-old has also sought to prove he has a more expansive offensive game than he\u2019s shown thus far, largely playing a rim-running role up to this point in his career.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, barring a trade for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/04\/knicks-exploring-trades-for-two-centers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a different backup center<\/a>, Achiuwa was liable to be re-signed. If so, it makes sense to why he remained unsigned while coming off of one of his better seasons.<\/p>\n<h3>A Star In His Role<\/h3>\n<p>Though undersized for the center position at 6-foot-8, Achiuwa plays with a heart that\u2019s bigger than him. With his fluidity magnified by his gumption, he\u2019s a solid rotational piece.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian pivot doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019ll be the next <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/olajuha01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hakeem Olajuwon<\/a>. Nonetheless, he\u2019s the type of player that can start in his role. In that respect, he\u2019s similar to a player like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hartjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hart<\/a>. Hart isn\u2019t going to win a team many if any games by himself. However, his motor helps him make an impact that exceeds his skill level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, the New York Knicks announced that they\u2019ve re-signed free agent big man Precious Achiuwa. According to ESPN senior insider Adrian Wojnarowski, he\u2019ll be returning on a one-year, $6 million contract. Precious Achiuwa has agreed on a one-year, $6 million deal to return to the Knicks, his representative Raymond Brothers tells ESPN. https:\/\/t.co\/UZoxIIk1kV \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":88137,"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":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1608,62,3],"tags":[993,1616,297,3148],"class_list":["post-88126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knicks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-precious-achiuwa"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88126","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}