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We spoke recently about how the Knicks and Kenyon Martin were in no rush to get a deal done. He may have been waiting for an above-minimum offer from another team; they may have been waiting for an above-Martin player to accept their minimum offer. Anyway, forget all that. Kenyon's back!
Free agent Kenyon Martin has reached an agreement to return to the New York Knicks, league source tells Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 24, 2013
Terms of the deal are not public yet, but we know this is a veteran's minimum deal (the largest possible, since Martin has more than ten years of experience), give or take whatever raises he might get as an incumbent player.
Martin played some superb ball last season as a back-up big and occasional starter when Tyson Chandler was broken. That was in just 18 regular season games after signing mid-season, though. It'll take some doing to to keep the 35 year-old Martin on his feet for a full year. All that said, Martin was terrific last season and I'm totally in favor of bringing him back. He offers sturdy defense, solid finishing, a lot of snarling, and even the occasional rebound on a front line wanting for all the above. Welcome back, Kenyon.
Update: Woj clarifies that this is a one-year deal for 1.4 million.