Kyle O'Quinn Reportedly Declines Player Option, Will Be Free Agent

New York Knicks center Kyle O'Quinn is reportedly heading for free agency. O'Quinn opted out of his contract for the 2018-19 season Wednesday, making himself an unrestricted free agent, according to ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski.

O'Quinn, 27, would have made $4.2 million next season—a sum that he'll almost certainly improve upon this summer. He emerged as a solid bench contributor in New York over the last three seasons, averaging 7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 58.2 percent from the floor.

The Knicks have kept O'Quinn to just 18 minutes a night, continuing a career-long trend of high per-minute production without ever receiving extended playing time.

"We love his passing. I think his consistency this year has been probably greater than it ever has been in his career," then-Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said of O'Quinn in April, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com. "That's one thing that we were kind of striving for with him. Again he came in the beginning of the year and he wanted to earn those minutes and he took them. I think he's had a great year."

O'Quinn will likely look for a backup role on the open market, one with more playing time. He's improved a bit as a shooter but still does most of his work near the basket. Where O'Quinn really helped last season was on the defensive end, forcing opponents to shoot just 45.5 percent when he was the primary defender, per NBA.com.

The Knicks could look to bring him back, but it's unclear if new head coach David Fizdale will have a role. Fizdale has spoken openly about wanting to play "positionless" basketball, and O'Quinn is a full-stop center. He's a good enough passer to make things work, but he's going to follow the money this summer, and it's hard to blame him.