Jordan Clarkson is staying put in New York.
Free agent guard Jordan Clarkson will re-sign with the Knicks, agent Rich Paul told Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Clarkson’s new deal will pay him $3.9MM, which makes it a minimum-salary contract. On the cap sheet, it will count for about $2.45MM, a number that helps the Knicks remain under the second tax apron.
That apron line has been a real target for New York this offseason. Team owner James Dolan made it a priority to avoid crossing that threshold, and the front office has followed that directive while still keeping important pieces in place.
Clarkson arrived in 2025 on a minimum deal after more than five seasons in Utah, then settled into a bench role for the eventual champions. His minutes bounced around during the season, and the numbers reflected a smaller role: career lows in points at 8.6 per game, assists at 1.3, and minutes at 17.8. In the Finals, he logged just 30 total minutes across five games.
Even with the reduced workload, Clarkson accepted the job and gave New York a scoring spark off the bench. Now he’ll get a chance to run it back and help the Knicks defend their title in 2026/27.
He’s also the latest free agent to return to the fold as New York works around its cap constraints. The Knicks have already brought back Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, and Mohamed Diawara on new deals.
The main roster loss so far has been center Mitchell Robinson, who signed a three-year, $47MM+ contract with the conference rival Celtics. New York could have matched that offer, but doing so would have pushed the team deep into second-apron territory.
Once Clarkson’s signing is official, the Knicks will have 13 players on standard contracts and roughly $3.27MM of room below the second apron. That leaves enough space to add a 14th player, but not enough to fill the 15th spot until later in the season unless the team signs two second-round rookies such as Tyler Nickel and Jack Kayil, whose cap and apron hits would come in below the $2.45MM veteran minimum.
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