The New York Knicks are the third team Alexey Shved has played for this season and while the Russian shooting guard would like to stay with the team in the future, it’s not quite certain the feeling is mutual.
The Knicks have enjoyed Shved’s scoring ability’ averaging 14.8 points in his 16 games so far, but their plan this summer is to sign top-level NBA talent. Shved still can improve, but he’s not the kind of talent the Knicks are envisioning as they imagine climbing out of the hole they’ve sunken into, partially on purpose.
I hope next year I can stay here. My agent will do his work summertime but I want to stay here. We had a lot of problems and injuries. Everything will change next year and I want to be part of it.
So what needs to happen for this to work out? It’s down to money, and how successful the Knicks will be in attracting top NBA talent while managing their cap space, right now having just $34 million, most of it to Carmelo Anthony, committed to players contracts next season.
With Shved carrying a cap hold of $6.23 million into July, it’s unlikely the Knicks won’t renounce him in order to clear that kind of money from their salary cap. However, bringing him back through the mid-level exception worth $2.814 million for the 2015-16 NBA season makes more sense.
Once again, it’ll come down to getting more attractive talent in free agency. Shved, a 6’6 shooting guard, has been in the NBA since 2012, playing for the Timberwolves, 76ers, Rockets and Knicks. He has a career average of 7.4 points in 18 minutes per game.