Knicks Declining Fourth-Year Option On Pacome Dadiet

Fred Katz of The Athletic confirms Charania’s report (via Twitter).

Dadiet is already earning a guaranteed $2,983,680 in 2026/27. The option, which was worth $5,373,608, was for ’27/28.

While it’s certainly a noteworthy development, since Dadiet will now be unrestricted free agent in 2027, the move doesn’t come as a surprise. The French wing has played very little at the NBA level to this point in his career, averaging just 1.6 points and 1.0 rebound in 5.2 minutes per game across 48 combined appearances, including a one-minute cameo in his lone outing this season.

Dadiet has struggled with offensive efficiency in his minuscule sample size of NBA minutes, posting a shooting slash line of .329/.255/.765. That has also been an issue, albeit to a lesser degree, in a larger body of work at the G League level with the Westchester Knicks.

In 23 appearances (31.8 minutes per game) as a rookie with Westchester, Dadiet averaged 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds on .402/.296/.826 shooting splits. In 19 games (34.6 MPG) with the Knicks’ affiliate club last season, the 6’9″ guard/forward averaged 22.2 PPG and 4.7 RPG on .450/.325/.708 shooting.

Dadiet hasn’t done much play-making in the G League, averaging just 1.6 assists against 2.6 turnovers per game in 2025/26. Those figures were at 2.4 and 2.0, respectively, in ’24/25.

Declining Dadiet’s $5.37MM option for next season will give the Knicks more financial flexibility heading into the summer of 2027, when they control a team option on Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns holds a $61MM player option. Miles McBride is among the Knicks who are on track for unrestricted free agency.

Assuming the options of Towns, Hart and Tyler Kolek are all exercised next season, the Knicks project to be about $14.7MM below the second tax apron with nine players under contract in 2027/28, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Charania notes that Dadiet and the Knicks could still discuss a new contract in 2027 free agency. That’s true — New York just won’t be able to offer him a starting salary worth more than the value of his declined option. Still, given Dadiet’s modest contributions to this point, a $5.37MM starting salary in 2027/28 looks like a long shot for the 21-year-old.

As our tracker shows, Dadiet is the only player on New York’s roster with a rookie scale team option for 2027/28.