The Knicks did not discuss any possible contract extension with Frank Ntilikina prior to Sunday's deadline for rookie extensions, per SNY sources.
Ntilikina, set to play his first full season under new team president Leon Rose and head coach Tom Thibodeau, will be a restricted free agent next summer.
New York will have the opportunity to match any offer Ntilikina garners from another team in the summer of 2021.
The fourth-year guard averaged 6.3 points, 3.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game last season. He appeared in 57 games, averaging 20.8 minutes per game. Since being selected eighth overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, Ntilikina has played for three different team presidents and four different head coaches (not including interim coaches).
The 6-5 guard is widely seen as a strong perimeter defender. He hasn’t yet showed consistency on the offensive end of the floor.
Thibodeau has praised Ntilikina during his interviews with reporters in the preseason, pointing out his defensive talent.
It seems like the Knicks will take a wait-and-see approach regarding Ntilikina’s future in New York. They will seemingly take the same approach with Dennis Smith Jr. They didn’t extend Smith Jr.’s contract prior to Sunday’s deadline. It will be interesting to see if Smith Jr. and/or Ntilikina is given a steady role this season. Ntilikina missed New York’s final two preseason games with a sore Achilles.
Both Smith Jr. and Ntilikina will compete for minutes in a crowded Knick backcourt.
In other team transactions, the Knicks announced on Monday that they had exercised their fourth-year option on Kevin Knox and their third-year option on RJ Barrett. Picking up those options is widely seen as a formality.
If Ntilikina, Knox or Barrett sign second contracts with New York, they will be the franchise’s first first-round picks to sign a second deal with the club since Charlie Ward. Ward played with the Knicks from 1994-2004.