 Veteran point guard Chauncey Billups was picked up by the New York Knicks in the blockbuster trade that brought Carmelo Anthony to the Big Apple back in February.
The team announced this week that they will be keeping Billups on-board for next season.
According to NBA.com, the Knicks decided his leadership outweighs the savings they would have earned by waiving him this week.
The team could've been obligated to pay Billups only $3.7 million if they cut him within five days after the season. Instead, he will be on the books for $14.2 million next season, when he will run a team in its first full season with Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony together.
"Chauncey, Amare and Carmelo are a great nucleus, as we continue to look to improve our team going into the offseason," team president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. "Chauncey is an extremely talented and experienced point guard -- we are very happy to have him back."
Billups was acquired Billups along with Anthony from Denver. This season, he averaged 17.5 points with the Knicks, but battled injury, missing six games with a bruised left quadriceps in March, then straining a tendon in his left knee during Game 1 of the playoffs and missing the final three games of New York's loss to Boston.
The veteran point guard, who helped the Detroit Pistons win the NBA championship over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004, will be 35 in September. He says he's in great shape, and hopes to drop five pounds before next season to better handle the pace of Mike D'Antoni's system.
He insists he has plenty of basketball left.
"My body has been great," Billups said. "I'm 34, not 39. My first five years I didn't play that much anyway, unfortunately, but my body is fine."
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