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Nothing like some rumors to get the blood flowing on a Monday morning.
In his latest piece for The Athletic about the Nets’ reported interest in Gregg Popovich for their head coaching position (huh?), Shams Chanaria mentions that the Knicks might fancy Fred VanVleet in free agency this summer as much as the fanbase does:
Raptors championship guard Fred VanVleet is on fire to start the NBA’s Bubble Playoffs: 21.3 points, 7.8 assists and four rebounds per game in the Raptors‘ series sweep over Brooklyn.
VanVleet is a shoe free agent and has multiple suitors for a new deal, sources say. And on the court, expect a strong market for the free-agent-to-be: Detroit, New York and Phoenix are expected to emerge as suitors for VanVleet outside Toronto, sources said.
Just like being one pick ahead of the New York in the draft, it appears that Detroit will be one of the main obstacles in the way of the Knicks acquiring a point guard of the future through free agency as well.
It’s interesting that Shams points out VanVleet’s sneaker free agency as well. One of the go-to arguments in favor of signing with New York historically is the fact that being a top player on the Knicks is a surefire way to get endorsement deals. This would certainly be an intriguing litmus test for that theory. Perhaps RJ Barrett and Kevin Knox could get Puma to throw FVV the bag?
As Shams noted, FVV has torn it up in the NBA bubble, and his overall season was easily the most productive of his career: 17.6 points and 6.6 assists per game on .413/.390/.848 shooting splits, which is better than any Knicks point guard has put up in a long time.
Two of our friends over at The Strickland, Drew Steele and Jeremy Cohen, released an in-depth profile of VanVleet today as well, if you’re interested in more about the Knicks’ free agent target to be.
With the Knicks projected to be one of the few teams with cap space in what is surely going to be a weird summer fall in the NBA, there’s probably a lot more rumors to come.