Bringing back Landry Shamet is excellent news for the New York Knicks' floor-spacing and bench depth, for “Deuce McBride can play backup point guard!” truthers, and for a certain rookie wing selected with the No. 51 pick in June’s draft.
It is terrible news for Kevin McCullar Jr.
By signing Shamet to a veteran’s minimum deal, New York must fill its league-mandated 14th roster spot with someone who has not inked an NBA contract before. McCullar does not fit that bill.
The Knicks cannot afford to offer Kevin McCullar Jr. a roster spot
The minimum salary for someone with zero years of experience checks in at just under $1.3 million. After allocating $2.3 million to Shamet’s deal, the Knicks have around $1.4 million in room beneath the second apron. Talk about tight margins.
Many wondered earlier this offseason whether McCullar would qualify as a zero-year signing because he was on a two-way contract last year. The Knicks received their answer back in August. It was a resounding “no.”
“So [McCullar] has a year of service now, because he was on a two-way contract last year,” Keith Smith explained to SNY’s Ian Begley on an episode of The Putback podcast. “That would put him as a one-year service player, so it’s a slight bump.”
With a year of “experience” under his belt, McCullar’s minimum salary gets nudged up just past $2 million. That’s between $600,000 and $700,000 more than the Knicks have available to offer.
New York can still keep Kevin McCullar Jr. in-house
This doesn’t have to mark the end of McCullar’s time with the club. For their part, the Knicks better hope it does not. They are light on both prospects and wings. Even with his shooting limitations in mind, his on-ball chops and defensive versatility are worth developing.
New York can hope the 24-year-old is willing to sign another two-way contract. That’s probably the best-case outcome, since the Knicks don’t plan to lean on their youngsters this season anyway. It’s late enough into the league’s transaction cycle that guaranteed roster spots (and salaries) will be harder for McCullar to come by anyway.
Failing that, New York will need to carve out more flexibility beneath the second apron. That can only happen via trade. And if that’s the direction the front office chooses, Tyler Kolek should be on high alert.
More likely than not, though, McCullar’s shot at a guaranteed roster spot with the Knicks this season just evaporated.