Knicks sign former No. 2 pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to Exhibit 10 deal

The Knicks have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The deal is expected to be an Exhibit 10 pact for Kidd-Gilchrist, per Newsday’s Steve Popper.

An Exhibit 10 contract is a non-guaranteed one-year, minimum salary pact that allows a player to make a bonus of up to $50K if he is waived and remains on the franchise’s G League squad for at least 60 days.

Regarded as a solid defender, Kidd-Gilchrist has ties to the current Knicks organization as current president Leon Rose represented him at CAA and is longtime friends with executive vice president and senior basketball adviser William Wesley. The 27-year-old appeared in just 25 games between the Hornets and Mavericks last season after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Charlotte organization.

The Kentucky product was taken second overall by the then-Charlotte Bobcats in the 2012 NBA Draft and subsequently developed into a solid starter for the team. After three solid seasons, the Hornets rewarded Kidd-Gilchrist with a four-year, $52M contract extension in August 2015.

Right shoulder injuries limited him to just seven games in his first season post-extension in 2015-16, but Kidd-Gilchrist returned to start 81 games and then 74 games in the two campaigns after it. However, starting in 2018, Kidd-Gilchrist lost his starting role while battling a barrage of injuries.

Ultimately, Kidd-Gilchrist fell out of the rotation and was waived by the Hornets earlier this year before latching on with Dallas for 13 games down the stretch.