New York Knicks: Three reasons to love the John Jenkins signing
The New York Knicks extended John Jenkins’ contract for the rest of the season, which is another move for fans to appreciate.
The New York Knicks signed John Jenkins to a 10-day contract earlier this month. With two games played and the All-Star break to consume this deal’s lifespan, the front office had to decide on his future.
On Wednesday, the Knicks signed Jenkins to a two-year deal with a trigger date for the second season to become guaranteed. Basically, it keeps him for a longer look, for the remaining 24 games.
Roster spots opened when New York made a handful of moves to close January and in early February, including waiving two players and the Kristaps Porzingis trade, thus Jenkins’ path to sign a longer NBA deal.
It’s also a transaction for Knicks fans to appreciate. How so? Let’s take a look:
3. A cheap contract before an expensive summer
Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Jenkins will make nearly $500,000 for the rest of the New York Knicks season. It’s not much and means little towards the 2018-19 salary cap, which will likely solidify for the final 24 games.
It brings the Knicks to the all-important 2019 offseason, however, when Jenkins’ salary will rise to $1.98 million. This is unguaranteed and has a trigger date sometime this summer.
New York has $70 million in cap space to use on free agents. Most of that may go towards two players, potentially Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
The cap hit on the John Jenkins signing is $496,449 for the remainder of this season and $1,988,119 for 2019-20. The second-year is non-guaranteed (summer trigger date) and has trade value only if the contract is guaranteed. New York is now $842K below the tax.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 20, 2019
The specific trigger date was not announced, but if it’s after the first day in July that teams can officially announce free agents, and Jenkins impresses for the rest of the season, he’s suddenly a cheap option to bring off the bench, on the veteran’s minimum exception.
The Knicks must fill the roster with cheaper contracts or veterans that willingly take lesser money to play with superstars and whoever their 2019 first-round pick is. Jenkins fits that bill as someone to spread the floor to play off whoever is in place, similar to what previous championship teams have done.
If not, the Knicks can part ways with Jenkins and prevent this salary from hitting the payroll.