Former Sixers Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks Returning to Knicks

The opening hour of free agency is always a hectic time for the basketball community. Deals come out in a frenzy as teams try to secure their top free-agent targets. 

One team with some money to spend this offseason is the New York Knicks. After landing a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference last season, they are looking to make upgrades. 

In their first pair of moves to kick off free agency, New York retained two familiar faces. Adrain Wojnarowski reported that both Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel have agreed to return to the Knicks. Burks signed a three-year deal worth $30 million, while Noel got three years for $32 million. 

Noel had arguably the best season of his career for the Knicks, reminding everyone of the defensive phenom he was coming out of Kentucky. In 64 games last season, he averaged over one steal and two blocks per game (career-high). 

Bringing back Burks solidifies the Knicks' firepower off the bench. Last season he posted averages of 12.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 2.2 APG playing around 26 minutes a night. 

One thing both these players have in common is they both spent some time in Philadelphia during their careers. The Sixers traded for Noel the night he was drafted, and Burks was a trade deadline acquisition during the 2019-2020 season. 

With Dwight Howard leaving the Sixers, speculation arose of a possible Noel reunion in Philly. Now Daryl Morey will have to pursue other avenues in search of a backup for Joel Embiid. 

Both Burks and Noel have bounced around constantly in their NBA careers. They now find themselves with multi-year deals with one of the league's most historic franchises.  

Kevin McCormick covers the Philadelphia 76ers for South Jersey's 97.3 ESPN and Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCNBA.