Re: IQ — love the guy and really hope he is a Knick for a long time. But IMHO, the extension pathway is so that players can get guaranteed money earlier than they would have without an extension. So the player is definitely getting real benefit from an extension, especially when you’re talking about a mid 20s draft pick who hasn’t made “real money” yet. The flip side of that is that the team needs to get some sort of under-market deal there — if not, then what is the purpose as far as the team is concerned, other than making the player happy? You still have the RFA matching rights (this is not like the Brunson situation — where the Mavs messed up so badly that he became an unrestricted FA).

I think the Knicks hit the right balance with Julius – coming off an all-NBA season, that was a good value deal for the Knicks and a feel-good situation for Randle. Even though it looked bad last season, the process seemed to be pretty reasonable.

The trouble is – the Knicks totally blew it by giving RJ a market-level or market+ level extension for no reason. They’re paying him more than freaking Mikal Bridges who is 5x the player RJ is. So the precedent for a market-level extension is already out there, which will complicate extension negotations with IQ.

I’d prob consider something like 4/96 as the max I’d give him in extension, knowing that the worst thing that happens is that we match it the following year or S&T him if the $ get really ridiculous.

Svi with 13 in the Charlotte win!

I’d strongly consider replacing Obi’s minutes with Hart playing the 4 to give more minutes to Grimes or Deuce

I love IQ and hope they are willing to pay him starter money to stay here. He is certainly much better than RJ, so anything less than what RJ got would be a bit of an insult in my opinion. I don’t know what Washington’s cap situation is, but if they offered him similar money to be closer to home and start, I think that would be a good career choice, not at all ludicrous. It would be very similar to the Brunson situation.

But that’s the thing, “similar money” won’t cut it. The Knicks will just match the offer. The only way IQ leaves the Knicks is if someone, like, maxes him or whatever, and that’s unlikely to happen. So there just isn’t a realistic situation where the Knicks would lose him. And certainly not because IQ would prefer to start.

In other words, any contract that doesn’t begin with a 1 is okay. But when it escalates into the $30+M range, at that point he better be much more consistent and productive than he has been. And that’s the rub. Has he pretty much topped out or is there still significant upside?

I don’t have a strong opinion, since he’s only 23. For now, let’s see how he finishes out the year. He’s a huge x-factor for us from here on out.

If you believe in Quickley’s defense, then he seems worth the $20M AAV. Here are the guys who make between $20M and $23M this year:

the problem with that list is that everyone starts… or did start at the time when they got their money like brogdon … it’s not super rare that bench players get paid… brunson did… but that’s the question facing IQ’s market value.. most are going to view him as a sixth man type and some team is going to need to view him as a starting pg in order to get to 20mm….