As one once-great New York Knick power forward retires, another will head south to try to revive what’s been a tumultuous career. David Lee is joining the machine-like San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs lost productive veteran forward David West to Golden State in free agency this summer, so they decided to replace with him with another veteran forward in Lee, who signed a 2-year, $3.2 million deal with a player option for year 2 yesterday. Lee was drafted by the Knicks out of the University of Florida and immediately electrified the Knicks roster, providing energy and rebounding off the bench for a team struggling to find its identity. He would eventually evolve into the team’s starting PF, and wouldn’t disappoint. In his two years as a starter in New York, Lee averaged a double-double in both years, including a monstrous All-Star year (20.2 ppg, 11.7 rpg) in the 2009-2010 season.
Lee was traded to the Warriors in the summer of 2010 to make way for Amar’e Stoudemire, and he flourished there too, until hampering injuries caught up with him in the 2014-2015 season. That summer, he was traded to the Celtics, who waived him at the trading deadline, at which point he was picked up by the Dallas Mavericks. Lee fell out of rotation in Dallas, but he’ll remain in Texas with the Spurs next season to see if he can reach his peak again under Gregg Popovich.
