Power forward Julius Randle recruited shooting guard Wayne Ellington to the New York Knicks this summer.
Ellington, who received interest from multiple teams this offseason, signed with the Knicks after Randle called him.
“There were a lot of teams that were interested. I spoke to a lot of different teams and considered a lot of different situations, but [my agent] Mark Bartelstein and I just felt like this was the perfect situation for me,” Ellington told Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype. “Obviously, New York is a very young team. They have a nice young core with Kevin Knox, who they drafted last year, and RJ Barrett and Julius Randle, who was one of the first people I heard from. He was hitting me up like, ‘Yo, I need you, man! I need your shooting!'
“Things just came together pretty quickly, honestly. The interest was mutual and I just feel like it’s going to be a great situation. A lot of people are counting us out, and we hear all of those rumblings. We hear all of it. We’re excited and we’re a very motivated group.”
Wayne Ellington signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Knicks this summer after splitting time with the Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons last season.
Ellington will stretch the floor and provide veteran leadership for the Knicks. Last season, he shot 40.3 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc in 53 games with the Heat and Pistons.
For his career, Ellington shoots 37.9 percent from the 3-point line. New York probably won’t make the playoffs next season, but they should be much more competitive after signing Ellington, Randle, Bobby Portis, Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson, Marcus Morris and Reggie Bullock this summer.
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