Landry Shamet’s red-hot three-point shooting has made him a cult hero of sorts during the New York Knicks’ run to the NBA Finals. His combined 26 points in San Antonio gave New York a much-needed lift over the Spurs as they headed back to Madison Square Garden with a 2-0 series lead.
Shamet cooled off in the Knicks’ homecoming in Game 3, but there’s no disputing that he’s a big reason why they’ve gotten this deep in the postseason.
Through 17 playoff appearances, the 28-year-old has averaged over six points per game while knocking down 51% of his threes.
Talk about magnet ball...
Former Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon is partially to thank for the Knicks having their most powerful magnet.
Way back in training camp, Brogdon and Shamet were in competition for New York’s final roster spot. The ex. Celtics went through the majority of the preseason before he ultimately elected to retire before the 2025-26 campaign officially kicked off.
Alas, Shamet was left the lone (and thoroughly correct) suitor for a standard contract.
Malcolm Brogdon indirectly got the last laugh over the Celtics
Now, Brogdon didn’t end his time in Boston on completely sour terms, but it wasn’t pretty, either -- thanks to the Celtics, mostly.
The 2023 NBA Sixth Man of the Year was originally supposed to be sent to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston. Of course, that version of the trade fell through, Brogdon stayed, and Marcus Smart wound up being the Celtics guard on the way out.
From that point on, there was a sense of betrayal that stuck with Brogdon before he was eventually traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in the move that netted the Celtics Jrue Holiday.
“The organization has had a few conversations [with Brogdon],” Joe Mazzulla told reporters in the summer of 2023, via CLNS Media. “I think anytime that you’re in a situation like that and you’re in a relationship, you just have to take small steps into it. There’s a healing process, there’s a listening process, and there’s a process towards — this is where we’re at and this is where we have to get to. So, we’ve had some conversations as an organization, but at the same time we understand the situation that it was and as the healing process goes on, we’ll continue to move just forward as well as we can.”
Any beef between Brogdon and the Celtics didn’t make its presence known during his final few seasons in the NBA. If it did, he would’ve been justified to feel like he was wronged by the Cs, especially after he chose to be traded to them in 2022.
If nothing else, his decision to call it a career while making the Knicks’ decision on Shamet an easy one, is payback enough. Thanks to him, one of Boston’s biggest rivals found a diamond in the rough.
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