Despite Enes Kanter recently claiming that he's leaning toward opting out of his $18.6 million player-option with the New York Knicks, his new agent, Mark Bartelstein, said his client has a long ways to go on making a decision on his player-option and that his comments in Thursday's press conference was “much ado about nothing,” according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
“We're in April,” said Bartelstein. “There's a lot of due diligence and work that needs to be done.”
Indeed there is.
Kanter could be making a huge mistake by opting out, despite being one of the premier offensive rebounding talents in the league (ranked fourth in 2017-18) and averaging a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double through 71 games this season.
There are still many unknowns about this upcoming free agent market, and even if the Knicks like him a lot — it's not a sure-fire fact that they will sign him to a long-term deal.
Assuming New York has learned from previous mistakes, they will stay away from huge binding contracts — the same type they gave Joakim Noah, now sitting out for the majority of the season while collecting a beefy paycheck.
Signing Kanter to a three-year deal for more than $20 million annually will be crippling for the team if he doesn't perform the way the check indicates, and the franchise will have plenty of other priorities like some guy named Kristaps Porzingis, who is pending an extension of his rookie contract.
Bartelstein is doing his due diligence by not allowing his client's words to scare off Knicks management, who will ultimately decide if a deal gets done or not.
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