A former Phil Jackson sniper is being brought to Knicks training camp.
The Knicks have invited former Lakers shooting guard Sasha Vujacic, who last played full-time in the NBA in 2011. The 31-year-old Slovenian played last season in Spain, then Istanbul, Turkey, where he averaged 15.7 points and 44 percent from 3-point land.
The 6-foot-7 Vujacic has spent the better part of the last four seasons playing overseas, interrupted briefly by a 10-day contract with the Clippers in 2014, when he appeared in two games.
Vujacic, once engaged to tennis star Maria Sharapova, has been training in Los Angeles, where he played for the Lakers and won two rings with Jackson as coach and current Knicks coach Derek Fisher as a teammate. The Lakers dealt him to the Nets during the 2010-11 season.
He will get the veteran’s minimum of $1.4 million in a pact still being worked on which will be mostly guaranteed, according to a source. Vujacic played six seasons for the Lakers in a bench role and played just 56 games with the Nets.
The Knicks’ roster can use another deep-threat shooter. Vujacic is a career 37 percent 3-point marksman who knows the triangle offense. If he plays some defense in camp, he’ll have a shot to stick now that the Knicks have parted ways with 6-foot-7 shooting guard Ricky Ledo, who is almost 10 years younger.
The Knicks are close to having 17 players solidified for camp, including second-round pick Thanasis Antetokounmpo, whom they expect will agree to a contract.
There are 13 guarantees for the 15-man roster, and they still want to add a proven backup center. Vujacic and the unsigned Antetokounmpo could be fighting for the last guard spot.
The Knicks also are finalizing training-camp deals for two undrafted 2015 rookie free agents: Harvard swingman Wesley Saunders and Virginia power forward Darion Atkins.
Atkins’ deal is expected to be announced early next week. He had been well off the radar. The 6-foot-8 defensive specialist has a 7–foot-2 wingspan, but wasn’t even invited to the Chicago pre-draft camp. He was a late replacement at the seniors-only Portsmouth camp, where he excelled, averaging roughly 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in the scrimmages.
Seventeen teams worked Atkins out before the draft, but not the Knicks. According to a source, they made no inquiries about having him on the summer-league squad. But after watching Atkins help win the summer league title with the Spurs and after getting spurned by their own summer member, Maurice Ndour, the Knicks finally reached out.