When Malcolm Brogdon abruptly called it a career this past October, it left the New York Knicks to re-sign Landry Shamet—a move that paid off all season, is proving critical to their Finals push now, and sets them up nicely this summer.
It is easy to forget all these months later, but Brogdon was the favorite to land one of New York’s final two roster spots ahead of the regular season. At the time, the Knicks only had room to offer a single veteran’s minimum contract. The other slot needed to be populated by a rookie-minimum deal (Mohamed Diawara).
Barring a salary dump, this effectively meant Brogdon was ticketed to make the roster over Shamet (and Garrison Mathews). The 33-year-old opted for retirement instead. And New York should be grateful he did.
Landry Shamet keeps reiterating his importance to the Knicks
It didn’t take long for Shamet’s return to go down as a rousing success. Injuries and underwhelming performances across the roster left him to assume a more prominent role than he expected. He delivered by providing efficient three-point shooting on real volume, and scrappy defense.
For the season, Shamet ended up downing over 39.2 percent of his triples while attempting more than eight of them per 36 minutes. He also ranked in the 80th percentile of time spent guarding primary ball-handlers, according to BBall Index.
Simply calling him a bargain isn’t enough. Shamet may have provided more bang for his buck than any other minimum contract in the league.
This impact has trickled into the postseason. Although he hasn’t always featured prominently in Mike Brown’s rotation, he has when called upon provided the same dose of floor-spacing and defense.
The Knicks do not win Game 1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers without him stepping in for what was an ice-cold Josh Hart. Brown has continued to call his number ever since. Shamet racked up nearly 30 minutes during New York’s Game 3 victory, and has now made seven of his eight three-point attempts for the series (87.5 percent), the vast majority of which have come in fourth quarters.
Oh, and for good measure, he’s spent ample time capably guarding Donovan Mitchell. The Cavs offense has averaged under 0.98 points per possession when Shamet checks Spida, and Hart is the only player on the Knicks who’s spent more time defending Cleveland’s star.
The Knicks can now keep Landry Shamet beyond this season
Brogdon’s retirement didn’t just set the stage for the Knicks to bring back Shamet. It ensured they would have his Early Bird rights when he hits free agency this summer. Rest assured, this is a big deal.
Assuming New York keeps Mitchell Robinson, it'll be on track to cross the second-apron threshold. This, in turn, would prevent it from using the mini mid-level exception of $6.1 million, making it much harder to add talent to the rotation.
With Shamet’s Early Bird rights, though, the Knicks can offer him up to 105 percent of the league’s average annual salary. Considering next year’s estimated average salary is around $14.9 million, they needn’t worry about not keeping him. They have the means to if they so please.
And, in what is one of this season’s landmark sliding-door moments, it’s all because Brogdon retired.
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