This offseason, the arms race in the East is even crazier than in the West. On September 15, Beijing time, the Knicks officially announced that the team officially signed Shamet. Many people think it's a base salary contract, but it's not. The Knicks only offered Shamet a training camp contract with an Exhibit 9 clause, which was non-guaranteed and extremely low-payable.
If Shamet is injured in training camp, the Knicks can cut him for $15,000. For a player of Shamet's calibre, it feels incredible to be willing to accept a contract like this. Think about it another way: dozens of rookies enter the NBA every year, which also means that the league has to eliminate dozens of "old guys".
Shamet was born on March 13, 1997, at the age of 27, and is on the verge of being eliminated from the NBA. If Shamet doesn't sign this contract, then he will most likely lose his job from the NBA and have to look for opportunities in other leagues. Having said that, for a league to continue to develop and move forward, it needs this kind of competition and elimination mechanism.
Shamet's last contract was four years and $42.5 million, with a $11 million team option for the 2024-25 season. On July 7 of this year, the Wizards officially announced that Shamet would become a free agent by refusing to exercise the team option. Shamet thought that he would soon find his next home, but he didn't expect that the wait would be more than two months.
$11 million turned into $15,000, why did Shamet's contract plummet? In the 2023-24 season, Shamet played 46 regular-season games for the Wizards, five of which were starts. He averaged 15.8 minutes per game, scoring only 7.1 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.7 turnovers, shooting 43.1%, 33.8%, and 82.6% from three.
Shamet's points average, rebounds and three-point shooting percentage per game are all career lows; Career-low assists per game. Looking further back, in the 2022-23 season, Shamet played 40 regular season games for the Suns, including 9 starts, playing an average of 20.2 minutes per game, scoring 8.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists, and shooting 37.7%, 37.7%, and 88.2% from three.
In the past two seasons, Shamet's salary has been $9.5 million and $10.25 million, respectively, which can only be described as a mediocre performance. In the 2023 offseason, the Suns sent Paul, Shamet, four first-round swaps, six second-round picks and some cash to get Beal, Goodwin and Isaiah Todd in a trade from the Wizards.
In the 2018 NBA Draft, Shamet was drafted by the 76ers with the 26th pick in the first round. He has played 348 regular-season games so far in his career, including 97 starts, with the 76ers, Clippers, Nets, Suns and Wizards. He averaged 8.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 40.8%, 38.4% and 84% from three.
Finally, let's take a look at the Knicks' operation this summer: 1, 10 for 4 trade to get Big Joe and Diop; 2. 5-year $212.5 million renewal of Anunoby, 3. 4-year $156 million early renewal of Brunson, 4. 1-year $6 million renewal of Achiuwa; 5. Signed Payne for $3.1 million for 1 year; 6. Signed Shamet with a 1-year non-guaranteed contract.
Randle, who was reimbursed early last season, will also return full of blood! Finally, welcome to the discussion: Do you think the Knicks can compete with the Celtics next season?