Getty Cam Reddish is playing himself into a new contract.
The New York Knicks and Cam Reddish didn’t find an equal ground on a contract extension before the season began, so it looks like things are leading into restricted free agency.
Once this happens, the Knicks will have the ability to match offers he gets elsewhere, and there was a possibility Reddish could find himself out of the league if he rode the bench yet again in New York. Luckily, Reddish played himself into the starting lineup and he’s been making the most of it.
After a tough preseason, Reddish finds himself averaging 8.3 points per game for the Knicks while shooting a career best 44.1 percent from the field. If that keeps up for him throughout the year, then it’s hard to imagine him not getting another contract, either from the Knicks or another team.
HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan discussed Reddish and both of them talked about his high upside, despite not seeing much of that on the court as of yet.
Is Reddish Staying?
Reddish didn’t factor in a whole lot last season after coming over in a trade, but he finds himself in the starting lineup now.
Scotto reveals there weren’t any concrete talks about an extension, which was expected, but one has to wonder if the Knicks would revisit those talks if they knew Reddish would be playing like this.
“There weren’t any serious extension talks for Cam Reddish and the Knicks,” said Scotto. “Recently, Reddish moved into the starting lineup and has a chance to show whether he can be New York’s long-term shooting guard. Reddish has always had upside, and his talent intrigues executives, but he hasn’t been able to be a consistent player to this point.”
Consistency is a big thing with Reddish, and if he’s able to get that figured out, then he will definitely have offers coming in for him, at least if you ask Gozlan.
“Reddish is a guy we all know has a lot of potential and athleticism,” he said. “He projects to be a pretty good defender… If he can be consistent, I’d imagine he could definitely be getting some full MLE offers.”
Does Reddish Have a Future in NY?
If Reddish keeps on playing the way he has so far this season, it’s an easy decision to match an offer to bring him back. However, once the squad gets fully healthy and Reddish possibly finds himself coming off the bench again, then the decision gets murkier.
If the choice had to be made right now, it seems simple that you’d bring Reddish back, but it didn’t shake out that way.
Something interesting fans pointed out was that Reddish and RJ Barrett were college teammates of Zion Williamson, and they believed there was a chance the two could recruit the Pelicans star to New York. Williamson signing the massive extension in New Orleans seemingly puts those rumors to rest, but it was an exciting time for a month or so if you’re a Knicks fan.
Reddish may very well never find his true potential, but if he could become a spot starter or strong sixth man, many teams will take that.