Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
JULY 9TH, 12:26pm: The deal is official, the Nets announced via press release.
JULY 2ND, 1:59pm: The Nets and Shane Larkin have agreed to a two-year, $3MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). It’ll include a player option on the second season, Wojnarowski writes in a full story. Brooklyn will use part of its $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception on the guard who played this past season with the crosstown Knicks.
Larkin confirmed the deal to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The guard wasn’t expected to return to the Knicks, as Newsday’s Al Iannazzone notes (on Twitter). New York declined its team option for 2015/16 on Larkin’s rookie scale contract this past fall, so the most the Knicks could have paid him next season on a new deal was the value of that option, slightly more than $1.675MM. Other teams were free to pay him more, but the Nets don’t appear to have exceeded that amount.
The Relativity Sports client was the 18th overall pick just two years ago, but he saw little playing time for as a rookie for the Mavs, who traded him to New York in the Tyson Chandler deal. Larkin started 22 games for the Knicks last year, but nonetheless moves on. He passed up more money from one of the three of four teams with interest, but goes into a Brooklyn backcourt already well-stocked with point guards, as Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com writes on Twitter.
Good move for the Nets. They needed someone like him at the PG spot off the bench. I’m surprised the knicks let him go to be honest, but not really surprised b/c Phil Jackson lol…good 3 point shooter and can defend. Also a good decision maker. Just a basketball player
I agree, the Knicks could have used him. Brooklyn’s signings are impressive: Larkin, T-Robinson and Ellington. For a team with virtually no flexibility, the moves to add young talent are exceptional.