Landry Shamet gave the Knicks exactly the kind of playoff punch teams love to find after the fact: a shooter who doesn’t need much time or space to make a defense pay. In the postseason, he hit 47.5% from three, and New York responded by bringing him back on a four-year, $24 million deal.
That return makes sense when you look at what he supplied over the regular season, too. Shamet averaged 9.3 points per game, knocked down two threes a night and shot 39.2% from deep. Those aren’t numbers that turn him into a centerpiece, but they do show why he matters once the second unit comes in and the floor needs to open up.
The Knicks are paying for a very specific job, and Shamet fits it cleanly. He is not there to run the offense or carry a lineup. He’s there to move, get his feet set and punish the extra defender who drifts off him.
The postseason was the strongest case for keeping him around. When the games tightened, Shamet didn’t disappear.
New York kept finding him, and he kept delivering the shot that was there. That kind of steadiness is what keeps a bench usable in May and June.
And that’s the real value here for the Knicks. There will be nights when the starters need more spacing, and Shamet gives them a straightforward answer without forcing a major lineup change. His shooting lets the creators keep the ball and keeps the offense from getting cramped.
Plenty of teams hand out flashier deals in the summer. This one is about holding onto a useful piece with a skill set that can travel anywhere a playoff series goes.
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Knicks Center Search Could Reopen Around An Intriguing Pelicans Option
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What keeps the door from fully closing is the possibility that the Pelicans stance changes once the season starts. Matkovi is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and his role has already been shrinking, which makes him a name to watch if New Orleans gets off to a rough start and starts thinking more like a seller than a buyer. [Read more 🡒]