Source: https://bsky.app/profile/keithsmithnba.bsky.social/post/3mxh2y7aakc2j

Knicks have four players who are extension-eligible:

K. TownsJ. HartM. McBrideT. Kolek

Because only expiring deals can be extended after October 19, Towns would have to decline his PO for 27-28, and the team would have to decline TOs for Hart and Kolek, to extend any of that trio in-season.

HAM____ | MIN

31 | 7 hours ago

Towns back to the wolves on a vet min confirmed! Connelly out here playing chess yall playing tic-tac-toe

AccomplishedBake8351

8 | 7 hours ago

I really really like Josh hart as a player but if his finger is really screwed up or if towns just really pushes things I could see the Knicks essentially giving up on him and using it to keep

Brunson/OG/Bridges/Towns together for an additional season or two

HokageEzio | NYK

18 | 7 hours ago

He had the best shooting season of his career with that finger. I think he’s just a spotty shooter no matter what. I think the likelier thing would be they cut into his deal to pay KAT. But he’s on a team option regardless.

AccomplishedBake8351

1 | 7 hours ago

Yeah I’m just saying if they can’t find a way to keep everyone he’s the easiest to cut out. That could be a sign and trade next offseason or playing it all out until 2028 and letting him walk

American-Repair

1 | 7 hours ago

Hart and Towns need to come in on discounts. Towns lock in for $240mil which puts him at 55mil a year on a 36mil discount all in. Hart should discount around the same percentage on his deal. Brunson should be taking the largest discount really. He stirs the drink but the drink needs to be top shelf to win. IMHO

AccomplishedBake8351

1 | 7 hours ago

If you give up hart you can have towns take a smaller discount is the point I’m making. Obviously everyone taking exactly enough to all stay is preferable but I’m not sure it’s realistic

Jealous_Walrus6946

1 | 3 hours ago

Brunson not taking another team friendly deal lmao. Without his first team friendly deal they couldn’t have afforded OG and Towns in the first place which let them win the title. They have to back the money truck up for Brunson’s next deal, everyone else comes next.

Jealous_Walrus6946

1 | 3 hours ago

Brunson was one game away from the ECF with donte divencenzo as his second leading scorer. give me a break. every one whose won a title needed help. even lebron and steph had stacked teams for their titles. SGA and wemby have stacked teams nobody denies them being the engine of those teams.

Crafty_Substance_954 | DET

1 | 7 hours ago

Hart is certainly the most likely of that bunch to not be retained I’d say.

PlasticPresentation1

6 | 6 hours ago

I feel like role players like that are insanely important for a team’s chemistry. Nobody does the dirty work on the Knicks like Hart especially with Robinson gone

SwordfishCool3060 | PHI

7 | 7 hours ago

It’d be a shame if the Knicks core fell apart due to money

PanthalassaRo | NYK

19 | 7 hours ago

It happened to the Bucks, Nuggets, Celtics and now us. That’s life under the apron era.

metaslaves | TOR

17 | 7 hours ago

The Bucks core was cooked after 2021 tbf

ThomasTheAngryTrain | SEA

6 | 7 hours ago

I mean they were pretty good in 2022. Its not really until Middleton got injured at Chicago did they really fall off.

OG_Wan_Annunoby | TOR

1 | an hour ago

Middleton constantly getting injured is what did them in

RoyalOakPiguet | NYK

-3 | 6 hours ago

Khris was an all star the next year and Jrue was the year after that. Jrue just forgot how to play in both playoffs and that was enough to destroy it

coincidental_boner | WAS

3 | 7 hours ago

Middleton’s body giving up had way more to do with the Bucks falling apart than any financial constraints

AccomplishedBake8351

3 | 7 hours ago

Bucks and nuggets happened pre apron

BSantos57 | MIA

1 | 7 hours ago

The Bucks aged out of their core and had terrible drafting/coaching to make up for it.

The Nuggets’ only 2nd apron moves were not re-signing KCP (which ended up working out for them, since KCP fell off a cliff after) and the MPJ trade, which on paper wasn’t a big downgrade (if at all) on the court, but Cam Johnson had a pretty mediocre season while MPJ put up big numbers. Shooting themselves on the foot with the Braun contract, being unable to find good depth on the margins and the Gordon injuries have been a much bigger factor in their decline than the 2nd apron.

There’s a much smaller margin for error in the 2nd apron era, but the CBA itself doesn’t break up contending teams, it just punishes those team building mistakes in a heavier manner than before

PlasticPresentation1

1 | 6 hours ago

They also didn’t resign Watson and made a bunch of shit trades which gave up all their assets, plus the Nnaji contract

MyTeamsSuck99 | BKN

1 | 6 hours ago

Celtics went into the second apron. Nuggets are paying big money to keep most of their team together. Knicks have a championship team all in their primes.

mikesh8rp | NYK

1 | 5 hours ago

And they largely have the same team together this year, excluding Mitch, who IMO isn’t the guy you go into the second apron for given his health concerns and limitations. I’d be all for the Knicks dipping into the second apron for a year or two, but with their core doing that basically forces one of the big contracts having to get traded in two years.

Really they should try to avoid it this year if possible, then be willing to go in next, which is the last year of Brunson and OG being on their current deals. Come ‘28-29 Brunson is going to get maxed, and keeping the core is basically out the window unless the Knicks are a second apron repeater, which is pretty rough from a team building standpoint.

raj6126

2 | 3 hours ago

The system is built just for this. OKC is dealing with the same thing. When you look at the cities OKC and NYC they are two totally different economies. With one being small and the other being the largest. That has no effect on the NBA teams. Even though NYC brings in way more money than OKC. They are dealing with the same salary cap issues. The system is working.

ObiOneKenobae | NYK

2 | 6 hours ago

I mean yeah? The plan has been for KAT to hopefully turn down that option regardless.

MyTeamsSuck99 | BKN

1 | 6 hours ago

I wonder if an opt in and trade is the most likely scenario. Towns having that massive option year really complicates the math on an extension for him. Hes very

FeverTreeCloud

1 | 7 hours ago

That’s James Dolan for you

Jealous_Walrus6946

1 | 3 hours ago

has nothing to do with dolan. its the second apron. this is essentially a salary cap league now. the celtics extended every body and had to trade them all a year later.

heat_fan_ | TOR

1 | 7 hours ago

Dolan just get it done

CurrentRoster | WAS

0 | 3 hours ago

they no good and well letting Josh go is the easiest option

[deleted]

0 | 7 hours ago

[deleted]

DangerZone69 | PHI

3 | 7 hours ago

Wym?

[deleted]

0 | 7 hours ago

[deleted]

DangerZone69 | PHI

0 | 7 hours ago

Uhhhh what? They can extend any deal until October 19 but can only extend expiring deals after the 19th

Cultural_Tank_6947 | GSW

1 | 7 hours ago

There was nothing stopping them from making offers before the 19 October deadline. It’s not like they’ll go from $50M to $72M next off season.

BeloAve | LAL

1 | 7 hours ago

There’s no way you’re defending James Dolan implying you think Dolan is a competent owner…

[Smith] Because only expiring deals can be extended after October 19, Towns would have to decline his PO for 27-28 (\(61M), and the team would have to decline TOs for Hart (\)22M) & Kolek ($2.4M) to extend them in-season.