NY Knicks: What does Luca Vildoza’s 4-year deal mean for the future?
By Adam Kester
The NY Knicks and Luca Vildoza have agreed on a 4-year, 13.6 million dollar deal, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. News that New York was zeroing in on signing the Argentine guard has been out for a while, but the two sides now officially have a deal in place.
The 25-year-old Luca Vildoza has been one of the best guards in Spain’s Liga ACB where he’s been the captain of his team, Baskonia. Last season, Vildoza led Baskonia to a championship and won the Finals MVP.
Vildoza arrives at an interesting time in the NBA season. With just about two weeks left before the end of the regular season, there appears to be no exact timetable for his arrival as he prepares to go through a long process of protocols and physicals. It seems unlikely he will make it to the team this season.
NY Knicks: Does Luca Vildoza impact the current roster?
Let’s be clear: Luca Vildoza probably won’t see a lot of action when he eventually joins the team. This signing should be described primarily as a speculative, low-risk, roster-filling move. The Knicks have a deep team with a filled-up rotation, so Vildoza is going to have an uphill battle for playing time. However…
A 4-year contract is interesting. 25 years old is interesting. An important detail to note: The first year of his deal is this season (which is about to end) and the next 3 years of the deal are not guaranteed. That means this is will be a real trial run for Vildoza this summer, where the team can evaluate his performances in the Olympics and summer league before deciding to guarantee the contract.
We’ve seen under-the-radar moves from the new regime already have big rewards. They wanted to scoop up Luca Vildoza before other teams could. As the new NY Knicks front office continues to build its roster, Vildoza’s arrival could be a harbinger of the others players being let go. Before we get into long-term implications, let’s look at Vildoza’s game on the court.