Knicks re-sign Precious Achiuwa on one-year contract

The Knicks have re-signed Precious Achiuwa, according to a team press release. He signed a one-year, $6M contract, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets.

Achiuwa has waived his right to veto a trade, Katz adds. Achiuwa became a free agent when the Knicks failed to extend him a $6.3M qualifying offer. They wound up re-signing him for slightly less that amount.

Achiuwa qualified for a no-trade clause upon re-signing a one-year deal but chose to give up that right. New York was motivated to declined the qualifying offer because it may have affected its hard cap situation when it tried to work out the details of the trade to acquire Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn.

The Knicks acquired Achiuwa in late December as part of the OG Anunoby deal. He wound up playing a significant role amid long-term injuries to Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and others. Achiuwa appeared in 49 games after the trade, making 18 starts and averaging 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.2 minutes per night.

With the free agent departure of Isaiah Hartenstein, Achiuwa and Jericho Sims are the top options to back up Robinson.

Re-signing Achiuwa to the $6M figure keeps them below the second tax apron. His willingness to give up the no-trade clause could facilitate a deal down the road. Being a first apron team, the Knicks are not allowed to acquire more salary than they send out in a trade. If they had re-signed him at a lower figure, it would have reduced the pool of players it could acquire for him.

New York now has 13 players on guaranteed standard contracts and another on a partial guarantee — Sims’ $2.1M contract becomes guaranteed if he on the roster past Aug. 16, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes.