The Knicks, in widening their search for a veteran point guard to be a tandem with Jeremy Lin, met last week with Pablo Prigioni, a 35-year-old on Argentina’s Olympic team.
Prigioni, who played last season in Spain for Unicaja Laboral, had a two-day visit and had dinner with Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald and coach Mike Woodson.
Prigioni, considered a good passer and clutch shotmaker, will square off against Team USA at the London Games next month.
His Spanish team, a source said, is offering him a one-year deal. The Knicks likely would want him for either the $2 million lower exception or $1.4 million veteran’s minimum.
Prigioni is open to the NBA after spending his entire career in Europe. He has been on the Knicks’ radar before. Back in 2009, then team president Donnie Walsh and Grunwald investigated signing Prigioni. But now he’s three years older.
One European scout said Prigioni has had a fine career but wonders if, at age 35, he can play 82 games.
The Knicks realize if they don’t win the Lin Bird rights arbitration, they won’t be in the game for veteran point guards Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Goran Dragic, Louis Williams and Jameer Nelson.
Meanwhile, the club will resume its pre-draft workouts today and bring in point guard Jordan Taylor, the preseason All-American out of Wisconsin.
The Knicks, who don’t have a first-round pick in the June 28 draft, select at 48 and will bring in six players today.
The Knicks already have had in point guards, Syracuse’s Scoop Jardine, who eliminated Taylor’s Badgers in the NCAA Tournament, Scott Machado, the Iona playmaker, Marquette senior Darius Johnson-Odom and Xavier’s Tu Holloway.