Veteran point guards mean something to the New York Knicks.

Disregarding the trade and draft markets, the Knicks have decided to pick up the $14.2 million one-year option on 13-year veteran Chauncey Billups for the 2011-2012 season.

One of the premier free-throw shooters in the NBA, and a NBA Finals champion from his days with the Detroit Pistons, Billups averaged 17.5 points and 5.5 assists for New York.

The 34-year-old was part of the deal that send Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks from Denver.

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.

Billups missed the last three games of the first-round series with the Boston Celtics, which ended in a sweep.

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