Landry Shamet revived his NBA career in New York. Now, he has a long-term home
For the first time in years, Landry Shamet can exhale.
Not as a player wondering if another injury, another roster squeeze or another front-office decision might send him searching for his next chance. Not as a veteran shooter trying to prove he still belongs in the NBA. Not as a former first-round pick trying to turn a temporary opportunity into something more permanent.
This time, Shamet has a ring.
And, reportedly, he is about to have something just as meaningful for this stage of his career: security.
Shamet intends to sign a new four-year, $24 million deal to return to the New York Knicks when NBA free agency opens at 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. Per Charania’s reporting, Shamet’s longtime agent, George Langberg of GSL Sports Group, worked with Knicks executives Monday to secure the long-term commitment.
In addition to the annual raise, Shamet will have the security of a multiple-year deal, something he has chased for the past few seasons.
For a 29-year-old Kansas City native, Park Hill graduate, former Wichita State star and now NBA champion, that kind of security means far more than a payday.
It is the clearest sign yet that he has finally found an NBA home after playing for six teams so far in his eight-year career.
After establishing himself as one of the NBA’s more respected floor-spacers early in his career, he signed a four-year, $42.5 million rookie extension with Phoenix that kicked in for the 2022-23 season.
But NBA life can turn fast for players who are not stars. Shamet was traded. Then he was injured. Then he was waived by Washington before the final year of that deal became guaranteed. Suddenly, a player who had been in playoff rotations for multiple franchises was back in the uncertain middle ground of the league.
The Knicks gave him a chance. Then another one.
Shamet signed what was essentially a prove-it training camp deal two years in a row with New York, only to suffer a dislocated shoulder during the preseason this past fall. The Knicks waived him because of roster and financial constraints, but they never fully let him go. They kept the door open, helped steer him back through the G League and eventually brought him back once he was healthy enough to play.
Shamet entered the season unsure if he would have a real NBA role. He leaves it as a champion who carved out one of the most memorable bench runs in recent playoff history, then chose to stay with the franchise that believed in him when his standing around the league had become uncertain.
There is also loyalty baked into the deal.
Shamet likely could have explored a stronger annual number elsewhere after what he did in the postseason. Instead, the reported four-year, $24 million structure points to a player willing to take less to remain in a city he has fallen in love with and with an organization that values him.
The Knicks went out of their way to keep him around when there were easier paths available.
Shamet rewarded that belief with shot-making.
Now he appears ready to reward it with commitment.
His regular-season numbers were solid. Shamet averaged 9.3 points in 23 minutes per game for New York, giving the Knicks another veteran guard who could space the floor, move without the ball and hold up defensively in a demanding system.
But the box-score line undersells the season.
The playoffs told the better story.
Shamet began the postseason outside the rotation. By the final three rounds, he had become one of New York’s most important reserves. He averaged 6.0 points during the Knicks’ championship run, but even that number fails to capture the weight of his minutes.
Shamet finished the playoffs 29 of 61 from 3-point range, a 47.5% clip that turned him from depth piece into a real weapon.
His best stretch came when the Knicks needed it most. In New York’s four-game sweep of Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals, Shamet made 11 of 12 3-pointers. During an eight-game playoff winning streak that included the first two games of the NBA Finals, Shamet shot 23-of-34 from deep, good for 67.6%, and averaged 11.5 points off the bench.
The Knicks won all eight games.
For a team chasing its first NBA championship in 53 years, those were not empty bench points. Those were series-swinging shots. Those were trust-building minutes. Those were the kind of performances that ultimately earned Shamet a place to stay.
Shamet’s road to this moment has stretched from Kansas City to Wichita State to Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn, Phoenix, Washington and New York. He has been traded multiple times. He has gone from promising young first-round pick to veteran specialist to player fighting for another chance.
That is the life of many NBA role players.
For Shamet, this new deal changes that.
It gives him four years with a franchise that knows exactly what he brings. It gives him a defined place on a championship roster. It gives him stability after years of movement. It gives him the chance to build roots in New York, rather than treat the city as another stop.
That matters.
Shamet proved himself when the stakes were highest.
Now, after years of uncertainty, the franchise is reportedly prepared to show him that proof was enough.
The former Shocker already has the title that will follow him forever. Soon, he is expected to have the contract that allows him to stop searching for the next stop and start building something more lasting.
This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 4:23 PM.
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