UPDATE 12:44 p.m. ET: Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that the two sides have agreed to a contract for the remainder of this season, and that is partially guaranteed for next year.
11:10 a.m. ET: Langston Galloway has been a recent bright spot for the Knicks, starting for the team in its last four contests, three of which were victories.
Galloway is coming to the end of his second 10-day contract in New York, which means the team needs to make a decision as to whether or not to sign him for the remainder of the season.
While management likes him, there’s some trepidation about signing him to a deal that would guarantee him any salary beyond the current season.
From Marc Berman of The New York Post:The Knicks and point guard Langston Galloway are still apart on negotiations for a new contract, The Post has learned, with the new point guard’s second 10-day contract expiring Tuesday.
The issue is whether the Knicks are willing to give Galloway some guaranteed money for next season. The Knicks are willing to sign Galloway for the rest of the season with a non-guaranteed pact for 2015-16.
Phil Jackson is very tight with his cap space, and isn’t yet sure he wants to donate the $800,000 minimum for next season it would take to keep Galloway in the fold, which is surprising. There could be other interested teams if Galloway becomes a free agent Tuesday.
The report was updated this morning to say that the two sides are “getting there” in terms of something being done.
There are two things at issue, here.
The first is that Galloway is precisely the type of young, inexpensive talent that New York needs to take a chance on in order to successfully begin its rebuilding process.
The other is that the Knicks prefer to rebuild quickly by signing star-level talent through free agency, and it’s imperative that they maintain a healthy amount of cap space in case they are able to convince players to come to New York once the current season is finished.
If the Knicks could get Galloway on a partially-guaranteed deal for next season, or even one fully guaranteed at the minimum salary, then it would seem like a worthy risk. If, however, they aren’t sold on Galloway as a long-term NBA talent, they can simply let him walk -- but it wouldn’t be at all surprising if another team or two had a certain level of interest.
Galloway has averaged 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 28 minutes per game for the Knicks in eight appearances this season.