New York Knicks: Best offseason acquisitions of the past five years

Courtney Lee

Courtney Lee‘s most recent season was forgettable and, perhaps, indicative of how much time he has left in the NBA. While that curtailed the back-end of his career, he was once a quality free-agent signing for the New York Knicks.

In the mostly disparaging summer of 2016, the Knicks gave Lee a four-year contract. He was 31 years old for the start of 2016-17, but players who were “3-and-D” talents had their value rise. That helped the Western Kentucky product, with his shooting percentage above 45.0 in 2015-16 and steady three-point makes.

Lee continued this wth the Knicks, with 11.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists from 2016-18. Throw in 45.5 percent shooting and 40.8 percent on three-pointers, and the team received everything they expected. He fit into the starting lineup and provided some stability when the team seemed to trend up and when it crashed due to Kristaps Porzingis‘ injury.

2018-19 started miserably for Lee, though. From facing trade rumors during training camp to a neck injury that sidelined him months into the season, he never found momentum, and the Knicks introduced their “developmental” season. This placed him, upon return, at the end of the bench, playing sparingly.

Lee departed after just 12 games played, joining the Dallas Mavericks in the Porzingis trade to unload salary. It was a disappointing end to what seemed like a solid two seasons, but moving in a different direction hurt his team status.