Knicks shooting guard Sasha Vujacic is back.
According to an NBA source, Vujacic has agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth $1.4 million, the veteran’s minimum for players with nine years of experience.
Vujacic had been in talks with two other NBA teams and European clubs as well, but a source said he felt the situation will be best back in New York. Vujacic is one of just five players returning from last season’s squad. His agreement gives the Knicks 13 players with guaranteed deals.
Knicks president Phil Jackson needed to move on Vujacic for depth at shooting guard once Langston Galloway bolted for a bigger offer with New Orleans. Justin Holiday, who was obtained from the Bulls in the Derrick Rose trade, is slated as a backup to Courtney Lee, but Vujacic’s triangle experience gives him a niche and a soft spot with Jackson.
After being out of the NBA and toiling in Europe for most of the previous four years, Vujacic, 32, had a poor beginning last season when he started the first seven games for injured Arron Afflalo. Fans soured on him as he became immersed in a shooting slump.
Interim coach Kurt Rambis benched Afflalo in mid-March, and Vujacic started the rest of the season and did well, scoring in double figures five times in April. Vujacic actually defended better last season than he shot the ball (36.4 percent on 3-pointers).
Vujacic, whom the Lakers took late in the first round of the 2004 draft, goes way back with Jackson, spending his first seven seasons in Los Angeles.
The Knicks plan to bring former Wichita State shooting guard Ron Baker to training camp after he played for the summer-league team, but he is hardly a lock to make the 15-man squad. The Knicks likely will give him a partial guarantee as incentive to play for the D-League Westchester Knicks if he doesn’t make the 15-man roster.
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek also has talked of the importance of having three point guards, and the roster has just two in Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings, both of whom have injury histories.
After missing the first two summer league games with a hip pointer, the Knicks liked the spark provided by former Stanford point guard Chasson Randle, and he’s being considered for a training-camp slot, according to a source.
Randle, after playing last season in the Czech Republic, averaged 18.3 points, 5.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals, shooting 47.6 percent from the field in three games in Orlando.
Jackson still may add a veteran center to the roster. Marshall Plumlee and Willy Hernangomez are rookies and may not be able to handle a backup role to Joakim Noah immediately. Kyle O’Quinn, who is more of a power forward, now projects as the backup center.
The Knicks reportedly have inquired about veteran power forward Drew Gooden.