He won't be taking the court anytime soon, but the New York Knicks announced that they made the decision to exercise a team option on the third year of Iman Shumpert's rookie contract.
The option will pay Shumpert $1.7 million for the 2013-14 season. There is also a fourth-year option for 2014-15, should the team choose to use it.
The move comes as no surprise: it's relatively rare for teams not to opt to keep a first-round draft pick for the third year of their rookie deal, and it would be especially surprising for the Knicks to do so with Shumpert. The Knicks were pleasantly surprised by the 17th overall pick out of Georgia Tech in his first season in the league, as he earned a role as the team's starter at shooting guard. Shumpert quickly became a ballhawk as the team's best perimter defender while averaging 9.5 points per game.
The ACL tear Shumpert suffered in last year's playoff series against the Miami Heat will likely keep him out for several more months – the second-year guard had previously mentioned January as a target for his return.