After choosing to sign with the Knicks on Thursday as long as DeAndre Jordan chooses the Los Angeles Clippers or Dallas Mavericks, center Robin Lopez is now finalizing a four-year, $54 million deal with New York, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Jordan choosing to sign with the Knicks could still overturn Lopez’s deal with them, but that seems to be highly doubtful at this point. As we know, Jordan had meetings with the Mavericks and Clippers on Thursday, and he is currently ‘torn’ between the two teams.
Lopez, 27, is a solid pickup for New York who had been looking for a big man with the ability to protect the paint. Being seven-foot tall and 255 pounds, Lopez has turned into one of the better paint defenders this league has to offer.
He spent the last two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers where he averaged 1.5 blocks per game, significantly helping LaMarcus Aldridge with the interior defense. On an unfortunate note, Lopez’s scoring and rebounding numbers slightly plummeted last season. The seven-year player out of Stanford averaged 9.6 points and 6.7 rebounds after averaging 11.1 points and 8.5 rebounds the prior season.
Lopez’s health was a minor concern this past season as well, as he played just 59 games due to a broken hand after playing in all 82 during the 2013-2014 season. Broken hand injuries aren’t too serious, but Lopez struggled to find rhythm and confidence after he returned from the injury. The Knicks are hoping Lopez could regain confidence and find a rhythm playing in the triangle offense.
This is the second free agent signing the Knicks have made so far. On Thursday morning, they reached a two-year, $16 million agreement with Arron Afflalo. It appears New York is chasing defensive-minded players to mold a new roster around Carmelo Anthony.
The Los Angeles Lakers were also considering signing Robin Lopez, but they never engaged the big man in any contract discussions.