Friday, July 3, 2015

Derrick Williams signs a two-year, $10 million deal with the Knicks

D-Will capitalized on his strong finish to the season

Richard Jefferson re-signed with the Mavericks earlier in the day, and now another former Wildcat is off the free agent market. Derrick Williams has reportedly agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with the New York Knicks, according to ESPN's Chris Broussard.

Derrick Williams' career to this point has been disappointing to say the least. For his career, the former second overall pick is averaging 9.3 PPG on an unimpressive 42.9% from the field, and just 4.3 RPG. Certainly not what was expected of him after he dominated in the collegiate level.

Nonetheless, he had a very strong finish to the season for the Sacramento Kings as he averaged over 14 PPG in his final nine games, while shooting a respectable 47% from the field. A finish which definitely increased his value on the free agent market.

It's unclear what Derrick's role will be with the Knicks. He and Carmelo Anthony actually complement each other pretty well, and I could see Williams starting alongside Melo at either the small forward or power forward position. They're pretty much interchangeable since they're nearly the same size.

It's also important to note that because Derrick got a player option for the second year, if he has a breakout year he can opt to test free agency next summer. The NBA salary cap is jumping from around $71 million in 2015 to roughly $90 million in 2016, so if all goes well he could be in line for an even bigger payday a year from now.

If things do not pan out, he can just exercise his player option and make $5 million again next season. But basically, he's betting on himself to build off the strong finish he had this past year.

Jordan Hill and Jason Terry are still free agents.



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