Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports was the first to report the news that guard Rob Baker has agreed to exercise his player option for $4.5 million to play for the New York Knicks next season.
The 25-year-old will be entering his third season with the Knicks after making the team as an undrafted free agent out of Wichita State in 2016. He will become a restricted free agent once next season is complete.
Widely expected move to opt-in
Last offseason, the Knicks agreed to a two-year deal worth nearly $9 million to retain Baker. The move was largely panned as too large.
Ian Begley of ESPN even went on Twitter after the signing to tell the fans not to direct their ire at Baker for the contract.
A dislocated right shoulder and torn labrum limited Baker to just 29 games (one start) in 2017-18. In 13.3 minutes per game, he posted averages of 2.4 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. He shot 20-59 from the field (33.9 percent), 11-33 on three-point tries (33.3 percent), and 20-26 from the free throw line (76.9 percent).
The Knicks already have Trey Burke, Frank Ntilikina, and Emmanuel Mudiay to man the bulk of the minutes at point guard, so expect the 6-4 Baker to mostly play at shooting guard if he is part of the rotation.
Other Knicks with player options
The Knicks are also waiting to see what two others decide to do with their player option for the 2018-19 season: Enes Kanter and Kyle O’Quinn.
Kanter’s player option is for a hefty $18,622,513, while O’Quinn’s is for $4,256,250.
The 26-year-old Kanter just completed his first season with New York after he was traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder along with Doug McDermott and a 2018 second round pick in exchange for Carmelo Anthony. Kanter started all 71 of his appearances at center this season averaging 25.8 minutes per game.
He finished with per game averages of 14.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists. His 39 double-doubles were good for 10th-most in the league. He connected on 422-713 field goals (59.3 percent) and 156-184 foul shots (84.8 percent).
O’Quinn, now 28 years old, has played the last three seasons as a member of the Knicks. He averaged 18 minutes in his 77 games (10 starts) posting averages of 7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 blocks.
All of those were career-highs for the six-year pro other than blocks as he finished averaging slightly more in 2016-17. He also shot a career-best 58.2 percent from the field.
How these players will do next season remains to be seen.
