4:14pm: The Knicks have officially waived Wesley Matthews, the team announced on social media.
2:28pm: Matthews will be bought out by the Knicks later today and intends to sign with the Pacers once he clears waivers, tweets Charania.
2:03pm: Shooting guard Wesley Matthews is expected to reach a buyout agreement with the Knicks, and the Pacers are the frontrunners to sign Matthews once he clears waivers, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Matthews is also expected to draw interest from the Warriors and Rockets and possibly other contenders, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link).
The Knicks are expected to retain veteran enter DeAndre Jordan, rather than buy him out. Stein adds. Jordan, who like Matthews will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, was also acquired in the blockbuster deal that shipped star big man Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks.
The Knicks have already been working on a buyout with disgruntled center Enes Kanter and that could be finalized as early as today, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Matthews and Kanter both have expiring $18.6MM contracts. Jordan is making $22.9MM.
Matthews, who is averaging 13.1 PPG and shooting 38% on his 3-point attempts, would be a natural fit for Indiana as it seeks to replenish its backcourt in the wake of Victor Oladipo‘s season-ending injury.
New York’s desire to keep Jordan is mainly due to his willingness to mentor their young bigs, especially rookie center Mitchell Robinson.
Raptors need to be in on him
I wish he would go to philly, but pacers make more sense for him. He can start for oladipo and try to keep his value moving into FA
Why keep Jordan??
They like him as a veteran mentor, especially for Mitchell Robinson.
He’s also apparently boys with KD too. If he can help lure KD to NY, that is infinitely more valuable than saving a couple grand on a BO
Will be hard for him to lure KD to NY considering he won’t have a home after this year, unless the Knicks sign him to a 5M slot. Don’t see them paying more than that…
No true max player will sign in New York. It’s a joke of an organization. Why would KD willingly put himself in a worse position than he was in at OKC? Knicks fans and new York media are beyond delusional.
Lowkey
Wow… if I were coming up with 5 teams he might go to, I would not have guessed the Pacers. But it makes sense – lots of playing time and even a starting gig open for him on a very strong team.
Would have been amazing for Indiana if they still had Oladipo, but regardless, it’s a need. Surprised he didnt end up somewhere else though, as he could have been a significant contributor for several teams, in my opinion
pacers are tied for 3rd in the east, they are legit
They were legit, until Oladipo got hurt. I’m a Pacers fan and I know that any postseason aspirations basically went down with Oladipo.
bullshit. they took a hit but pacers can still hang with anyone in the east
If you had a better option at the 4, that mY be more true, but unless Turner, Evans, and 1 of the young guards step up significantly, Indiana is clearly not where they would be with Oladipo, although that doesnt miam they arent at least competitive
What did you spike that koolaid with? Gritty team, yes. Playoff contender as presently constructed no.
During a regular season game? I agree. In a 7 game series (assuming the Pacers don’t have home-court), I would disagree. Are they an easy out, definitely not, but they’re not a significant threat in a 7 game series unless someone else steps up. You need a go-to scorer in the playoffs and the Pacers don’t have that. Sabonis is probably the closest thing the Pacers currently have to that but he’s foul prone and is basically limited to post ups. They don’t really have a guy right now that can go out and create his own shot.
It also depends on who they would draw in the first round, but ya, especially in the playoffs, not having Oladipo changes a lot for them offensively and defensively
Agreed, although he’s likely going to have a bigger role in Indiana than if he went elsewhere. Going to Indy would give him a better shot to get paid again in free agency.
Probably true, although there were teams he would have still played a lot on
Guess it’s not ALL about winning. Best platform to showcase himself for a new contract with VO gone.
I thought he would sign with a contender.
he did
He did not
News out today says Victor Oladipo is shooting from a wheelchair. He’ll be out a long time. I expect the Pacers to re sign Matthews this summer.
People are historically too quick to dismiss the Pacers. Mathews will help at a need.
They certainly waited to fill the 2G spot.
Looks like they will go in as a 5 seed, vs either Boston or Philly. It would have mattered (will matter) to go in as the 3 seed to avoid the EC ‘big4’ but it might be too late for that now.
So far all the top EC teams have improved themselves except Boston. Not too late