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On Thursday the Spanish website encestando.es dropped an article with the intriguing headline, "Willy Hernangómez ha rechazado dos ofertas del Real Madrid para renovar y tiene en la mesa una por cuatro años de los Knicks." Rough translation: Willy Hernangómez has rejected two offers from Real Madrid and has on the table a four-year deal with the Knicks.
We checked with Spanish basketball guru and friend of the site Austin Green and apparently this is legit.
Willy has a four-year offer on the table from the Knicks worth $4.5 million. The article doesn't specify and I'm not 100% sure, but based on the fact that he was a second-round draft pick one year ago, I assume that's $4.5 million total, not annually. Teams can't officially sign players yet, so this "on the table" offer remains strictly under the table for the time being.
Real Madrid tried to re-sign him on two occasions, but have now come to accept the fact that "El pívot" (love the sound of that for some reason) is all but gone. Willy only played 496.7 total minutes for the European power club, posting a PER of 21.79 in limited duty. The fact that they tried so hard to re-sign him seems to indicate that they still believe in his potential.
Welcome (hopefully) to the Knicks, Willy! Please be good!
Update: Hernangomez's agent flatly denies this report:
Andy Miller, the agent for Willy Hernangómez, says there's "no validity" to a report the #Knicks offered a 4-year, $4.5 million deal. #Nyk
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) May 12, 2016
I don't know what to make of that, but the Knicks have his exclusive rights and we know there's mutual interest in making a deal, so we'll see.