Logo

The Knicks may have found a new starting point guard.

In the Knicks’ sixth signing of free agency, general manager Scott Perry landed a player he drafted in Orlando with the 10th pick in 2014: Elfrid Payton.

Payton will receive a two-year, $16 million deal with the second year being a team option, according to a source.

Perry loves Payton’s penetration game, and made a big push to trade for him at the 2018 trade deadline. The Knicks instead wound up with Emmanuel Mudiay, who is a free agent and now won’t return with the Knicks all but out of cap room. Mudiay finished last season as their leading scorer (14.8 points).

The signing of the 25-year-old Payton sets up a major point-guard derby in training camp among Dennis Smith Jr., Frank Ntilikina and Payton. All three are former lottery picks. Smith had figured to go into the season as the starter but a source said the job will be thrown open.

Bringing in Payton is reminiscent of Perry gambling on Mario Hezonja, whom he signed last summer to a one-year, $6.5 million deal. Hezonja had an up-and-down year and the Knicks let him sign with Portland for the minimum Monday.

Payton has struggled with his outside shooting and has been somewhat injury-prone across his career. He played just 42 games last season for the Pelicans after suffering a left-knee tendinitis. He hurt his knee five games into the season, returned in March and averaged 10.1 points, 7.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds.

“Elfrid had a great year for them when he played,’’ an NBA personnel person said. “He got injured in game five and that hurt his season. He made shots but never was really was in a situation when the 3s he took were under tremendous pressure. He’s [got] great character and a really good player. It’s a good pickup by the Knicks.”

The Pelicans had salary constraints which prevented them from bringing Payton back. His signing capped a whirlwind 20 hours for the Knicks, who signed six players.

They used almost all of the $70 million of cap space that was earmarked for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. There were 206 free agents, and the Knicks’ alternate plan was to spread the wealth instead of overpaying with the max second-tier free agents such as Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris or Khris Middleton.

Related Video

Knicks have pushed Stephen A. Smith over the edge

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy