NBA
Clippers Center Named Knicks Target
The New York Knicks are gearing up for the start of free agency tonight knowing there’s a chance they may lose starting center Isaiah Hartenstein to a new team.
The Knicks have been one of the biggest spenders so far this offseason, signing OG Anunoby to a five-year, $212.5 million extension and trading for Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges, who has a two years and $48.2 million left on his four-year deal he signed with the Phoenix Suns back in 2022.
This could mean the Knicks may need to sign a cheaper option in free agency. That’s why New York Post writer Stefan Bondy named Los Angeles Clippers center Mason Plumlee as a potential option for the Knicks to sign this summer.
“Depending on where the Knicks end up with their salary, they’ll either have access to one taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.1 million) or just exclusively minimum deals to sign unrestricted free agents,” Bondy writes. Plumlee is an affordable option who is tough and physical. He’d fit in seamlessly with Thibodeau and has been in the NBA for over a decade. Once a Slam Dunk contest participant, Plumlee is now less athletic but has become a solid passer.”
Plumlee, 34, averaged 5.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 46 games with the Clippers this past season. As the No. 22 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Plumlee has enjoyed a decade-plus long career with the Clippers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers and Brooklyn Nets, where his career began.
A move to the Knicks would be a return to New York City for Plumlee, and it would give him a chance to play for one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, and the NBA for that matter.
Plumlee played on a $5 million contract this past season with the Clippers, so the Knicks would likely have to pay somewhere near that to bring the veteran big man on board. The Knicks can afford something like that, so Plumlee checks out there.
While he may not be in his prime anymore, Plumlee is still a serviceable big who can eat up minutes for a Knicks team in need of a veteran center.
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