Landry Shamet has been passed around like a bong for most of his NBA career. The Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns and, most recently, Washington Wizards all had him and in some way sent him packing.
Lower-body and shoulder injuries are catalysts for the journeyman resume. Shamet’s various departures didn’t exactly incite picket lines outside arenas. Still, the entire league whiffed on him this past summer.
Despite finishing last year on the Knicks, buried underneath the wrath of Tom Thibodeau, he wasn’t guaranteed a roster spot this season. New York brought him in on a training-camp deal, and at the time, it had room for only one veteran’s minimum slot. Given the team’s need for ball-handling, Malcolm Brogdon was widely considered the favorite to land it.
Luckily for the Knicks, Brogdon suddenly retired on the heels of some poor preseason showings. That etched Shamet’s return in marble. (Note: New York could have offloaded another salary to make room for both Shamet and Brogdon. The point still stands.)
Oh, what a return it has been. During the regular season, he was one of only 11 players to rate in the 75th percentile or better of three-point attempts per 75 possessions, three-point percentage and defensive matchup difficulty while racking up at least 1,000 minutes, according to BBall Index. His company: Anthony Edwards, Brandon Miller, Devin Vassell, Jerami Grant, Kon Knueppel, Deuce McBride(!), Mosey Moody, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Royce O’Neale.
You’ll notice Shamet is the only player on that list making the minimum. And while he began the playoffs on the outskirts of the rotation, that didn’t last long. The Knicks don’t erase a 22-point deficit in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals and set the stage for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ total implosion without him.
We could shame the Wizards for waiving him back in 2024. Or we could scold the rest of the league writ large for letting him fester on the open market this past summer only to see the Knicks take their sweet-ass time bringing him back, get best-minimum-deal-in-the-NBA production out of him and, equally ridiculous, secure his Early Bird rights ahead of this summer.
