Knicks Re-Sign Veteran Guard

He averaged 5.7 points and 39.7% from 3-point distance during that most recent stint, just the sort of back-end bench piece that the Knicks were looking for. New York tossed around several other candidates for its final free agency contract, including the versatile Ben Simmons and the hot-shooting Malik Beasley, but the former's noncommittal attitude and the latter's ongoing gambling probe ultimately help push the Knicks back into a more straightforward direction.

Shamet, having taken his own time to pick a new destination, ended up as one of the most desirable free agent on the market several months after the signing flurry came to a close. He's shown that he can offer spot-contributions to winning basketball, missing the playoffs just once in his seven years in the league. Former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau respected his defensive hustle along with his obvious spacing intrigue, granting him real playoff minutes late in the team's playoff run.

The Knicks have gone all-in on bench shooting this summer, with their lack of helpful bench pieces growing into a burden that came back to Thibodeau back for his over-reliance on his starters. They signed a stretch-big in Guerschon Yabusele to provide some floor-spacing to New York's big man room, as well as an accomplished sixth man scorer in Jordan Clarkson. He, along with Miles McBride, will be expected to still outrank Shamet on the depth chart, though he'll have his moments.

Karl-Anthony Towns recently spoke highly of the distinctive winning culture that the Knicks were cultivating, something he was already taking note of after one year in New York. That shows in Shamet's decision to stay put in his sensing the opportunity to return to the depth of the playoffs, even if he'll be in a fringe role.

The Knicks have the high-end talent to outscore most of their league-wide counterparts this season, one of the few deep teams in the underwhelming Eastern Conference. He makes for a fitting final outside free agency signee, even if New York still retains the right to sign one of their rookies to one more minimum contract.