NY Knicks: What does Luca Vildoza’s 4-year deal mean for the future?

NY Knicks: Luca Vildoza signing could be an indicator of more change to come

I’ll reiterate: Luca Vildoza isn’t going to shake up the Knicks rotation in a major way. Yet, even with his expected minimal role, this front office clearly wanted to go out and lock up control over him before other NBA teams could pounce.

So here we are with the Knicks sitting at 4th in the Eastern Conference in Leon Rose’s first year as team president and Tom Thibodeau’s first year as head coach. They’ve inherited players and assets from last season, signed a few role players, made a few small trades, Shanghai’d the Pistons for Derrick Rose, and turned a team with zero direction into one of the most exciting franchises in the league. They’re going to build off the success of this season.

I want to see the Knicks’ former lottery picks Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina succeed, I really do. Knox could become a really nice shooter (already is) and Ntilikina could become a solid combo guard. Naturally, we as fans tend to overrate our young players and focus on the potential we gave them in our heads from when they were drafted.

The harsh reality is that there is very little evidence to show that Knox and Ntilikina have any decent value. Not only are they hard to trade but they’re also not even in the rotation. What happens to the Knicks if you take Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina off of the team? Nothing. Nothing happens, because they don’t play.

The Vildoza signing probably has more implications for Ntilikina than it does Knox. Maybe it’s more directly tied to Elfrid Payton who could also very well be gone next season. Either way, you’d expect some small changes to the team’s roster this offseason.

It may not seem like it to some, but to me, signing Luca Vildoza to a 4-year deal is the front office getting ready to further put their pawprints on the roster. We love this team, we love the big 15, but considering Payton, Bullock, Noel, Burks, and Rose are all unrestricted free agents, there’s going to be some changes this offseason.

We’re all excited to see what the NY Knicks have in Luca Vildoza. Whatever his future holds, the team was able to scoop one of the most coveted international players on the market. If Luca Vildoza becomes a nice role player for this team at just over 3 million per year, New York got a steal.