Inside the Knicks’ Ignas Brazdeikis contract numbers
LAS VEGAS — The numbers are in on Knicks rookie second-round pick Ignas Brazdeikis, beyond the 30 points he put up Sunday night in the team’s second summer league game.
The Post has learned the Knicks inked Brazdeikis to a team-friendly, three-year contract at the rookie minimum — with a third-year team option.
Brazdeikis will start at the rookie minimum of $900,000 in 2019-20, and his salary will rise to $1.5 million in the second year. That makes the guaranteed portion two years for $2.4 million. The third-year option is for $1.8 million.
To make it a three-year deal, the Knicks had to use their cap space. The Knicks have about $3 milllion remaining in cap space, plus a $4.8 million room exception. But they already have 14 players on the roster and may want to preserve the cap room to facilitate a trade later in the season.
The Knicks already made a $1 million investment in Brazdeikis. That’s how much the club forked over to the Kings to trade up from No. 55 to No. 47 to select the 20-year-old Canadian lefty, who played one season at Michigan.
The Knicks are getting good at their second-round selections. Shot-blocking center Mitchell Robinson, selected 36th overall last year, inked a team-friendly long-term deal for four years with team options that started at $1.4 million. He earned Second Team All-Rookie honors.
Brazdeikis outperformed No. 3 pick RJ Barrett on Sunday in hitting 11 of 19 shots, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 22 seconds left that forced overtime. He made 3 of 6 3-pointers, tore hard to the basket and added eight rebounds. In the summer league opener, he had finished with five points on 2-of-8 shooting while showing flashes of his attack mode.
Brazdeikis is billed as a confident player and isn’t shy, showboating after some of his makes. He is, however, a defensive question mark. Brazdeikis told The Post he didn’t work out for the Knicks because they were selecting 55th and he figured he would go in the late first round or early second round.
“I got my family support, I got close people behind me,’’ Brazdeikis said. “I’ve always had this kind of mentality where I don’t care what people think about me. I just gotta be myself and I just want to win. That’s all I want to do.”
Before the summer league, former Michigan coach John Beilein, who now pilots the Cavaliers, told The Post: “Ignas was such a pleasure to coach. His IQ for the game grew every day in his year at Michigan. He is passionate about basketball and competes daily to win and improve as a player. He was at his best in our big games. The people of New York are going to love how hard he plays the game.”
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Beilein’s Cavaliers passed on Brazdeikis, Michigan’s leading scorer last season, with what turned out to be three first-round picks.
Barrett has experienced about as bad a summer-league start as a No. 3 pick can have. He shot a combined 7-of-33 in the first two games – 2-of-13 from 3-point range. He also has 10 turnovers. He did haul in 10 boards Sunday. Barrett’s rookie contract calls for him to make $7.8 million in his first year.
