Shortly after clearing waivers this afternoon, Elfrid Payton has reached a deal to return to the Knicks, his agents at CAA tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
New York waived Payton on Thursday and paid a $1M partial guarantee on his previous contract rather than giving him the full amount of $8M. Payton will receive $5M for one season on his new pact, per Wojnarowski.
Given the reported price of Payton’s new deal, it’s possible the Knicks will look to fit him into their room exception ($4.77M). In that scenario, the team would still have approximately $29M in cap room to use, without Payton cutting into it.
Payton got the most use of New York’s point guard options last season, starting 36 of the 45 games he played. He averaged 10.0 points and 7.2 assists per game, but shot just 43.9 percent from the field and 20.3 percent from three-point range.
If they don’t make any more moves at the position, the Knicks will have the same three players at point guard as they did a year ago, with Payton battling Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. for playing time, and it will be up to new coach Tom Thibodeau to sort them out.
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