Quick Reaction: Robin Lopez to the Knicks

By Brett Malamud

This morning we received news from Yahoo Sports Insider Adrian Wojnarowski that the Knicks have agreed on a four-year, $54 Million contract with free agent center Robin Lopez. The deal is pending DeAndre Jordan’s decision on his destination. However, the Knicks are not expected to sign Jordan, who is reportedly “50-50 and torn” between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers.

Let me say that $13.5 million a year is an absurd amount of money for a player that cannot play offense. Lopez averaged 9.6 points per game last season. While he’ll definitely help on defense, I’m not sure that the signing was a good move. Signing Lopez to this lucrative deal leaves the Knicks with just $5.5 million of cap space. Well what’s next?

Do the Knicks really think they’ll contend with the likes of Kendrick Perkins and Derrick Williams alongside Carmelo Anthony and Lopez? Instead, the Knicks should have stayed patient and waited till next year where they could have built themselves in an intriguing 2016 free agency class. Instead we’ll see a team that will struggle…again.

Brett Malamud is an English Rhetoric Major at Binghamton University. He is the co-founder of dabuzzza.com. His favorite athletes are Derek Jeter and Todd Bertuzzi. You can follow him on twitter at @brettnyy