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It's getting to be time for the Knicks to bring back their favorites from last year's squad, and here's one down:
Knicks free agent Lance Thomas has agreed to a one-year, $1.6 million deal to re-sign with New York, league sources tell RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 10, 2015
Fine with me. I like Lance Thomas! He doesn't uhhhhh offer much on offense, but he's also not going to ruin things on that end. I love his footwork and multi-positional range on defense, and I was often pleased last season with his degree of hustle and grit and energy and other baseball words. Lance Thomas is not at all exciting, but he works. He seems like a good guy to have around, and a suitable candidate for minutes off the bench. The end of it, ideally!
If Charania's number is correct, Thomas's new contract appears to be a cut above the veteran's minimum, which means the Knicks only have a million or two (plus the room exception) to hand out until they get down to those vet's min deals. Welcome back, Lance!
Two big questions now:
1. Who's next? Lou Amundson? Cole Aldrich? Alexey Shved!?!? (Langston Galloway and Ricky Ledo are with the Knicks unless they get cut.)
2. Who wears number 42, Lance or Robin Lopez!?
Including Thomas (and Ledo and Galloway), I count 12 Knicks. If Galloway (definitely) and Ledo (maybe) are sticking around, that leaves 8 open spots for a training camp roster and 3 open spots for the real thing.