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Knicks sign Milicic to Exhibit 10 contract. No, not that Milicic – Posting & Toasting
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Knicks’ Jalen Brunson to host 52nd season premiere of ‘Saturday Night Live’ – SNY
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Knicks News: Knicks Sign TWO Veterans Ahead Of Training Camp | John Konchar & Drew Eubanks – Knicks Fan TV
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102 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.09.16)”
Konchar seems overqualified to be available this late in the offseason. Good add. I support signing decent players at positions you don’t need vs bad players at positions you do.
1 Brunson, Alvarado, Kolek
2 Bridges, Deuce, Clarkson, Konchar
3 Hart, Shamet, Dadiet
4 Anunoby, Diawara
5 Towns, Drummond
I am comfortable going into the season like that with a bunch of random bigs on two way deals for emergency depth.
It’s a little small. OG, Diawara, Shamet, and Deuce are all one position higher than you would ideally want. This will place an extraordinary rebounding burden on KAT and Drummond.
But for 50 games of fucking around until we find out, it will do.
I think Konchar puts Dadiet on extreme notice. One of them is going to be the easily expendable wing. He needs to show improvement, whether in practice or at Westchester.
I think the team has moved on from Dadiet. It’s just a question of whether they have to pay to unload the contract, if they can use him as matching salary, etc. But I would be at least a little surprised if he was still on a team after the deadline.
This seems weird but actually this is a maneuver the Knicks have used before. These players will get a bonus if they stay in Gleague for more than, I think, sixty days, because of being on an exhibit ten contract before they went to Gleague and the bonus is a significant percentage of a Gleague salary. This enables the Knicks to pay more than a G league salary to players they want on the team.
Yeah, there is no reason to keep Dadiet and several reasons to unload him. I believe his salary is far enough above the minimum to allow for signing all of Eubanks, Konchar, and Nickel.
As a 3rd C, I think Eubanks would be great if we still have Mitch. But as a backup plan for Drummond, I’m less excited. At the very least, he should give us at least as much as Hukporti would have, so I’d be okay with the signing so long as they keep working the phones.
I still think Deuce is on the chopping block unless he signs for something in 7 figures.
Re: Duop Reath or James Wiseman, neither one is exciting…….but if I had to choose one, then easily Reath. I think.
Or maybe the exact opposite. How the F is Wiseman still only 25 years old, while Reath is 30? I would have thought the exact opposite. Wiseman had a good first few years in the NBA (17/11 per 36 in 150 games for the Warriors and Pistons). OK, Wiseman then.
I could see this being our playoff roster:
Starters: Brunson, KAT, Hart, OG, Mikal
Bench: Alvarado, Shamet, Clarkson, Drummond, Mo
Situational: Kolek, Konchar, Eubanks, [Dadiet/Deuce replacement], Nickel
The only thing Wiseman has going for him is that he’s still young. His on-off numbers are horrific.
Neither one of them is a rim protector. Like, at all. Skip both of them.
Wiseman and Mo Bamba are so confusing. At a minimum, they should be able to defend the rim and just stay out of the way on offense, but no…
I wish I was, but I am not at all comfortable penciling in playoff minutes for Mo. Also, hopefully Konchar, as a better all-around player, will push Clarkson into “situational”.
And I don’t hate Drummond, but at this point, a KAT injury would be pretty disastrous to our playoff odds. You could probably say that about OG as well.
Adding one more playoff caliber 4/5 would be extremely helpful, and trading Deuce seems to be the best way to accomplish that goal.
Dadiet just turned 21 this summer.
I’m not so sure I’d be “anxious” to move on from him for some other end of the bench player that’s already as good as he’s ever going to get (which is not very good). Unless he’s part of a deal to get an immediate or long term upgrade for Drummond or to make room for one of our draft picks Leon/Brown thinks has higher upside, I’d rather keep him. I’m still of the opinion that we can simultaneously remain a contender and start bringing in some young blood.
I don’t know Konchar’s game very well, but I know Clarkson’s. I like Clarkson as a teammate guy, but I’d prefer he didn’t play. 😉
I’ve been saying for quite awhile that the most logical way to fix the team given the budget restraints and Shamet coming back is to trade Deuce, but I think losing him could hurt more than some realize. So we better get back somebody GOOD at C!
It’s very simple. Deuce next contract depends on KAT.
There’s no chance the Knicks are exercising Dadiet’s $5M+ fourth-year option (deadline 10/31) so not trading him wouldn’t mean having a young player under continuing control. He’d be a UFA at season’s end.
The moves suggest that Leon, whether purposely or coincidentally, is creating pressures that are rooted in the team’s defending champions and America’s Team status.
-Deuce: how important is it to him to remain a NYK? How much money is it worth to him? It clearly meant enough to Shamet and Alvarado to give up probably a couple of million each to stay here. Signing Konchar only ramps up that pressure, while it suggests to other teams that the Knicks are even more willing to move him for the right price.
-Drummond: while he is assured of going into the season as the primary backup, he needs to perform well enough to ward off any competition. Signing Eubanks is not glamorous, but he’s good enough to push Drummond. At the same time, both he and Robbins know that they can play their way up the depth chart, especially if someone tweaks something. It also suggests less desperation on Leon’s part, giving him less of a disadvantage in negotiations for players like Diabate and Missi.
-Kolek: By signing Alvarado, Kolek has even more urgency to improve if he wants to stick around. At the same time, if he shows something in preseason, he might become an even more valuable trade chip.
December 15 and January 15: the new contracts become tradable. Everyone, including Drummond, Alvarado, Shamet, Clarkson, and Mo should be on notice that they could be salary filler in a deal if their play slips.
I think it depends on Dolan.
I don’t believe his mandate is etched in stone. I expect him to come under major fire for his cheapness when the drop off from Mitch to Drummond becomes apparent and there’s no benefit in sight from staying under the apron.
People aren’t stupid. They may not know what the second apron actually is but if the team gets worse instead of better it won’t take long for them to figure out he lied about suicide. If he tries to do this again next year without a championship parade to hide behind, he’s going to have a much harder time escaping heat.
Konchar grabs 8rebs/36 with solid block numbers. Have to think he’s a candidate to play as an undersized backup 4.
I could see Brown running a Hart/Konchar/OG front court in the playoffs and saving Drummond for the true behemoths.
Damn that’s fantastic.
This looks much more balanced, if still a little small:
1 Brunson, Alvarado, Kolek
2 Bridges, McBride, Clarkson
3 Hart, Shamet, Diawara
4 Anunoby, Konchar
5 Towns, Drummond
And to think we have Jonathon Kuminga to thank for this blessing.
If we were to keep Dadiet, I wouldn’t exercise the option absent massive improvement. Instead offer him a multi-year deal near the minimum. I doubt anyone is willing to pay him more.
That said, I’d just as soon move on for even a slightly better win now team.
Wishful thinking, Hubert. Look at dynamic ticket prices and merch sales. It’s all about the King of NY. There will be no pressure in NYC. Even if there was, tourist will and have filled any size hole that New Yorkers vacate.
Reality is on KAT. If he’s playing the long game, then sign. If not then off to a place to earn max money with no state taxes. Anything in the middle, Deuce is toast.
It should be worth close to zero to him. After this season he will have played 6 NBA seasons at virtually a minimum salary and is facing a chance to make significant money. He should play for the Kings if the money is significantly different. He is a corporation with a 10 year useful lifespan. Look at Pete Alonzo. Playing for a shitty team is fine if the money is significantly different.
The same facts lead me to a different conclusion.
If Dolan keeps chipping away at this team he will have pitted himself against the king of New York, and done so while ticket prices are at a record high.
The narrative will become Brunson took less money so the team could stay together and Dolan’s putting that money in his pocket instead of in the team.
(That should be the narrative right now, because it’s literally what just happened. But people were too ecstatic to care.)
Yeah, honestly I wouldn’t blame Deuce for grabbing his bag now, which is why I’ve come to terms with a Deuce trade.
I’m not sure who would give him that $15 mil AAV contract after a trade, but I hope he gets it.
“I don’t want to believe his mandate is etched in stone.”
fify
At this point I think I’m rooting for KAT to call Dolan’s bluff and get paid.
It was one thing to force Mitch out. He was a niche player with a cult following.
But if he forces Leon to deal Karl Anthony Towns, he will be more despised for breaking this team up than he ever was for running it into the ground.
Really, the notion that Dolan is doing something widely perceived as dumb is itself dumb. And the hand-waving away of the second apron and tax penalties is also dumb.
No one is going into the second apron. And so long as that remains true, no one but a very tiny and meaningless faction of disgruntled Knicks fans are going to care about it. But you go right on and make up a delusional narrative that makes you feel better. It is 100% certainly not gonna happen this year, and there is no reason grounded in the current reality (including the inner workings of the mind of James Dolan) that should make it anything but a stupendous shock if he relents any time in the future. He couldn’t have made it any more clear in what he said. There was nit even a hint of equivocation, not a hint that he would let Leon talk him into it.
If Leon deals KAT because KAT wants to get paid something close to 35% of the cap and refuses to take anything less, my hope is that Dolan didn’t have to force him into it.
Seems to me that Dolan is fine letting Leon do whatever he wants (other than not letting him retain Thibs if that is what happened, which was smart) , so long as he doesn’t put the team into the second apron. I am guessing that Dolan is going to be fine with paying the repeater tax, although that is yet to be confirmed. So the most likely scenario is that it is on Leon to make the decision on whether to keep or trade KAT while staying under the second apron. That includes (very stupidly imho) signing KAT to a supermax deal and trading away other key players. And if Dolan says no to the supermax, that is actually smart.
I like both Konchar and Eubanks. They are both solid players when they are called upon. I think Konchar fits the attitude and environment of the current Knicks. He will be able to fill in for injuries, and foul trouble. If he can go back to being around 35-37% from 3 that will help too. But his hustle and team-oriented play will be valuable during the regular season.
“It should be worth close to zero to him. After this season he will have played 6 NBA seasons at virtually a minimum salary and is facing a chance to make significant money. He should play for the Kings if the money is significantly different. He is a corporation with a 10 year useful lifespan. Look at Pete Alonzo. Playing for a shitty team is fine if the money is significantly different.”
Well, look at Landry Shamet, and Jose Alvarado, both of whom could probably have made more by testing the market. Are they dumb? Or do they just value things differently than you do?
Hubert, you are displaying symptoms of Dolan Derangement Syndrome. You want KAT to ask for a salary that Dolan will refuse to pay and break up a championship team, just so you can say “Fuck Dolan?” Don’t allow your hate to consume you.
I don’t think you or anyone here wants to pay KAT anywhere near the max. Leon is going to be the one to decide if he stays or goes, just like with IQ and Randle. Leon has a price point for KAT in mind, and if they don’t agree, he’s going to go with plan B and trade him. Not because Dolan forced him to, but because he thinks it is good business. That seems to be Leon’s MO.
You guys, grown assed men with significant positions in society are running around town sporting your Knick’s “colors” everywhere and bragging about it. Dolan isn’t worrying about anything. He’s going to run his business to maximize his bottom line the way he thinks is best for his bottom line. I don’t know if he is still being advised by McKinsey but those folks are pretty mercinary.
I get that Konchar is a good rebounder, but he really isn’t suited to be a PF and has played only 2% of his minutes there according to b-ref. If anything, Diawara is a better fit there with his length, and Brown seems to agree…he played 55% of his minutes there last year. But sure, give it a try!
Think Konchar is a poor man’s version of Josh Hart. Those two sharing the floor together means zero space and leage average defense. It has to be an either or type thing when Konchar fills in the 10 games or so that Josh Hart rests with nagging injuries.
It’s true. To find a team that went into the second apron, you have to go all the way back to *checks notes* last season, when the Cavs did it.
It’s even crazier if you try to find the time before that. If you sift through the ancient archives, you’ll find that three teams finished the season above the second apron in 2024-2025.
So look, all you Dolan haters who think he should go into the second apron to keep together one of the most beloved teams in the history of New York sports need to ask yourself a serious question: do you really think this group is as valuable as the 2025-2026 Cleveland Cavaliers? Come on now!
Hubert, KAT has made nearly $400m already. Is $550m in earnings not enough? – To me its a fine line between Dolan and KAT in reality of the pursuit of living a fulfilling life eventhough the numerical difference is large.
Tell you what, would you rather make $300K in your current job, live in NYC around family where you’re beloved in the community or move with your bride to a brand new city across country and make $377K?
Your employer knows this, won’t raise your salary and dares you to move if you really want that last $77k. What do you do?
To my knowledge, the second apron has been a thing for all of 3 years. The first year, three teams went into it. The second year, one team went into it This year, one team is still in it and likely to duck under it before the season is over.
See a trend here? Probably not, those hate goggles don’t let much light in.
But hey, at least all of the teams that went over it have a championship run to show for it. Oh wait…
Shamet and Alvarado aren’t dumb for taking less but their circumstances are different than Deuce’s. First, both have made more money than Deuce. Neither of them have ever had huge contracts but they’ve made more than Deuce has.
Second, they’re both older than Deuce. I’d say both are probably better than Deuce in some ways (or maybe just more useful in their roles for us), but Deuce is probably better than either of them overall when you factor in his age.
Finally, Shamet and Alvarado have both either bounced around the league or have been in NBA Siberia (New Orleans) for most of their careers. So given they’re a little older and have made a bit more money than Deuce, it makes sense they would take a little less to stay here on a team that can compete and they have clearly defined roles on. Plus, Alvarado is from the NYC area.
All that to say…Deuce is probably gone if he’s offered anything significant and he should take that and go.
The good news for us is that, even though Deuce was great last year for us until he got injured, we were able to win a championship with his contributions being pretty minimal. outside of the one philly game he didn’t really play that well offensively in the entire playoffs. So while trading him hurts the guard depth we have on our bench, it makes sense to do so if he’s going to leave in free agency and we can get a real upgrade at back up center back.
My guess — Dadiet plus Deuce plus some second round picks could yield us an upgrade at back up center and Leon is just waiting for that opportunity to appear. Hence, the Konchabar signing.
“Come on now!”
Taking it as tongue in cheek, but also a bit offensive. Forget the second apron hard limit and whatever that implies, but to go over it for Mitch? A “no” from me. The next years are about being healthy for the playoffs, and Mitch ain’t the solution. And when he was healthy last year he probably won us the Cup and was crucial in exactly one play that helped us win the chip, but otherwise regressed in the Brown v Thibs gameplan. Albeit because KAT was healthy, but KAT needs to be healthy for us to repeat.
And when I think of “keep together” a team, I clearly delineate between trading a crucial piece versus not matching a UFA over the market offer.
Well… let’s look at Shamet and Jose. Is there anything other than speculation they turned down significantly more $$$ to stay here? Maybe Detroit/Cleveland/SA were interested in Shamet.
Shamet played for the minium the past 2 seasons. The past 4 seasons he played 40, 46, 50 and 51 games. The Knicks tripled his salary and extended him 4 years for a guy who in 8 seasons has never had a single season with a positive BPM. He is the quintessential limited role player.
Jose basically extended for two more seasons at the same salary as his past two seasons. That doesn’t sound like there was some big offer waiting for the guy with a .530 ts% and was acquired for a body, the 58th pick in the 2026 draft and the best 2nd round pick of 5 teams who should all be in the top 1/3rd of the league this season..
Maybe they signed for market value or maybe they were altruistic, but it is all speculation.
I UNDERSTAND THIS IS OBJECTIVELY MINOR NEWS FOR EVERYONE ELSE BUT PUT YOURSELVES IN THE SHOES OF SOMEONE WHO IS A BIG ENOUGH KNICKS FAN TO POST HERE AND ALSO WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI!
Hmm. John Konchar. Interesting.
He had been a perfectly cromulent 3pt shooter up to last season, when he fell off a cliff in that department. Career .361 shooter from 3pt until last year, when he shot an unsightly .283. Get that back up to his career average and we are really cooking with this guy.
Why? Because he defends his ass off. He is a switchable 6’5″, not a great POA defender but not terrible in that area either. Where he really shines is team defense– understands the assignments, rotates, rarely makes mistakes, plays with a high motor, crashes the boards at an elite level for a wing, and racks up a decent number of stocks for a wing.
This isn’t a guy you have to squint at to see a productive player. He averaged 7.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per 36 last year. Even in a poor shooting year he was a 0.9 BPM player. Very low usage guy on offense, but he really stuffs the boxscore in just about every other way.
The Knicks now have even better depth on the wing, with Deuce, Shamet, Konchar, Diawara, and Clarkson all looking to earn bench minutes. It’s not hard to imagine Leon using this depth to move one of these guys to acquire a meaningful backup big.
Bruce Brown? That’s a lot of 6’5” guys all of a sudden. Reminds me a bit of the power forward offseason…
…add Agbaji to the list!
And Wiseman!!
Seems deliberate. Like basically hording these guys so other teams that need one of them have to give us a big in return.
Not exactly.
I am suggesting Dolan doesn’t actually have the stones to break up this team. Or, if I’m being kind, that he has enough good sense not to.
It’s one thing to sit smugly in Carton’s chair and be a blowhard when the cost is just Mitchell Robinson.
It would be something else entirely to run KAT out of town. And I don’t think Dolan wants that smoke.
That is correct.
But I want KAT to be paid fairly. And I recoil at the idea that KAT, not Dolan, should be the one to reduce his earnings to pay for Deuce. Or that Deuce, not Dolan, should sacrifice money to keep this team together.
These men have made Dolan a fortune. He should pay all of them their worth. Every last one of them.
As for my supposed derangement… I’m certainly angry that this smug little prick has put us in a position that we have to root for the players who brought us a chip to have materially less wealth so that he can have more. I’m also angry that he forced one of my favorite Knicks ever to be ignominiously discarded within two weeks of the parade. And as everyone who’s ever had the misfortune of reading me here knows, I like to express my feelings with gusto.
But no, I don’t want the team to be broken up so we can say Fuck Dolan. I want KAT and Deuce to stand up for themselves and say “pay me what I’m worth”.
In the case of KAT, I’d expect Dolan to fold like a cheap suit.
In Deuce’s case, I think it would depend on what happens this year. Say, for instance, KAT gets hurt and Drummond stinks, and the result is a deeply disappointing season that everyone pins on his decision to duck the second apron. Then I would bet Dolan changes his tune next summer. But if the team succeeds again and Drummond proves capable, then I would expect him to feel vindicated and repeat the mandate.
“So look, all you Dolan haters who think he should go into the second apron to keep together one of the most beloved teams in the history of New York sports need to ask yourself a serious question:”
Why are a select few of us being so interminably whiny and entitled because the same owner who presided over the first championship team in 53 years then decided to let his POBO bring back every single rotation player except a guy who averaged less than 20mpg in 60 games (13.9 in the playoffs) and who almost cost us haters a championship because he broke his hand punching a truck on the eve of the finals?
I’m sure that shrill whining is going to persist endlessly unless Mike Brown can somehow inspire this hopelessly gutted team to another championship.
“I am suggesting Dolan doesn’t actually have the stones to break up this team. Or, if I’m being kind, that he has enough good sense not to.”
Well according to some (including you!) he already has.
very cool that the knick front office has stuck to their schedule and loaded up on some bodies mid-september…
appreciate the regularity of their process: to heck with drafting, add known high end talent, bring in a bunch of bodies prior to training camp…
not going to knock any player we bring in for camp, let’s see what happens…
hoping that something good at the 4 or better yet 5 comes through…
don’t wanna be too thirsty for it – but really would like to be pleasantly surprised by mo playing the 4 and somehow, someway andre coming in and “putting on the pinstripes” to have some crazy late career resurgence – like lead the league in per minute rebounding or something…
there’s different ways of being an effective defense, but feels like our rim is still too vulnerable…
time to go talk to HAL to see where we ranked last season in blocks, how important a factor are blocks to team defense…
got fond memories still of how nerlens’ blocks could shift the momentum of a game…
Begley confirms that all the vets are on non-guaranteed training camp deals. Konchar is no different from the rest in that regard.
The hoarding is downright sudden and weird, but most of them are at least somewhat defensive-minded, which I really like. Maybe if we can keep enough defense on the floor most of the time in general the fact that it is not coming from our backup center position won’t hurt as much (or hopefully at all).
“Say, for instance, KAT gets hurt and Drummond stinks, and the result is a deeply disappointing season that everyone pins on his decision to duck the second apron.”
See, I think even your “everyone” (again, it’s not really anything close to everyone, just a select few chronic glass-half-empty-ers) would think that it was because KAT got hurt. Unless one is delusional enough to think that Mitch, with his minutes and games restrictions, would have mitigated the “KAT got hurt” issue.
Only if he thinks it is.
I want Ochai Ogbaji to make the team just to hear Clyde try to pronounce his name.
I think there is an “intelligent consensus” that KAT is worth something in the 25-30% of the cap range. If he think he’s worth more than that, Leon should either look to trade him or let him test the market and risk losing him. He turns 31 in November and will be almost 32 if he opts out. Let him go fishing and see what he gets, and in what city.
Now do this for Dolan.
i’ve swung to a new media consumption low…watching endless (not really, over a hundred though) vids of better call saul…
premium youtube, best sub ever ♥️
none of it in any particular order, that adds some spice to it all…most vids focus: mike, nacho, gus, lalo, some amazing stuff with chuck, phenomenal work…
not a lot of saul or kim…most clips of saul seem to focus him in breaking bad…
someone put together the werner storyline…another tale of woe, and a very very long line of similar tales…
Hubs, you’re overly obsessed with the money part of the equation with the second apron. IMO, the penalties occurred on picks and trades are far more onerous than the money and is probably just as much a driving factor in not going over the second apron than Dolan just being cheap.
IMO, if there were no penalties on freezing picks and making trades so difficult, Dolan would probably go over the second apron. Why do I think this? Because in the past when we were horrible, he had no problem paying a lot of money for team that was garbage. He had no problem firing coaches who were still owed salary if it meant moving on from someone.
Not being able to make a trade unless it matches to the exact dollar really puts a team in a bind. Imagine we go over the second apron. We’re kicking ass and it looks like we might repeat. Then someone like Mikal or Hart gets injured in January. It’s a huge blow but it’s not KAT or OG or Brunson, so Leon and Mike still think we could win it all if we find the right piece in a trade. But we can’t because we’re unable to make a trade because we’re in the second apron.
I don’t know the specifics of all those 2nd apron penalties but I know that they put teams in a position where it is almost impossible to do so. Is it worth that for Mitch? Mitch was/is awesome in his own right but he’s still a bench player who can’t hit free throws and missed almost 2 seasons because of injuries.
Ogbaji has been surprisingly terrible, but it should be an interestingly even matchup between Brown Jr. and Konchar.
Konchar has been the better defender more recently, but Brown’s 3pt shooting was much better last year. Both are 29.
It could swinging either way in a competitive environment.
Knicks are running a Josh Hart play-alike contest in training camp
I’m losing track here, who are the guys who are actually gonna be in training camp?
Agbaji
Brown
Eubanks
Konchar
Wiseman
Robbins
I’m assuming Nickel will be in the fold. Is that it? Maybe McCullar?
Brown kinda sucks imo. His 3p% last year is almost certainly natural variance of shooting. He was a key bench piece for the Nuggets for all of 1 season and hasn’t impressed since.
The Nuggets bench was so bad that year that every Knicks bench player except Dadiet could’ve gotten playoff rotation minutes for them.
Respectfully, Swift, that’s because
The second apron is actually quite forgiving when it comes to keeping your team together. In fact it was actually designed to prevent teams from having to break up. It gives you a multiple years of running it back with zero penalty.
It’s only restrictive if you want to get better.
Think of it this way… it was designed to let the 73 win Warriors stay together for years. But it was also designed to prevent them from adding Kevin Durant.
The reason so many teams are ducking the second apron is because they need to improve. The Cavs, for instance, went under the second apron because they weren’t good enough. They felt they needed to add Peyton Watson, so they had to get under.
If you want to get better, the second apron kills you.
But it does not force you to get worse. Only stupid owners like James Dolan do that.
That’s why you have to look at the trade off. What do you get for ducking the second apron? In the Cavs case, it was Watson. In our case, it’s nothing.
As does everyone else.
KAT has b een grossly overpaid his entire career save the last few weeks of the playoffs. Until the Atlanta series, he hadn’t played like the max player his check indicated. That is beyond discussion.
The Knicks winning the championship has zero bearing on what his salary should be the next 4 or 5 seasons. He has already been more than adequately paid for his past services.
He should be paid what one can reasonably forcast as his production moving forward, not the very recent past in exclusion to the entire body of work. Are you willing to bet KAT will give his last 6 weeks production the next 4 seasons? I’m not and his salary moving forward should reflect a reasonable projection of his career’s likely trajectory.
I am confidient Leon is very good at guaging these things. That was precisely what he did his entire career; evaluate the marketplace for his players. It is his Bailiwick. Should KAT grossly disagree, so be it and Leon will handle it in a businesslike manner.
Konchar would be my frontrunner.
Wiseman should already be out of the race.
Agbaji and Brown are fine for the end of the bench. Brown has a unique skillset but Agbaji is younger and could maybe still figure it out.
Eubanks plays C and we need a C. Not sure there’s all that many positives beyond that.
Robbins on a two-way is reasonable and I’d like to keep McCullar.
Bob, the context of the conversation was that KAT needs to pay for Deuce out of his own contract. My position is that KAT should get what he’s worth from the Knicks and Deuce should get what he’s worth from the Knicks and the only man who should pay for either of them is Dolan.
It’s the opposite of this. There are barely any non-financial penalties for going over the second apron for a single season, or even two seasons in a four year period. It’s literally just the inability to trade your first-rounder seven years from now. Yes, I think Mitchell Robinson has more value than our ability to trade our 2034 first-rounder. Is that a hot take?
If you go over for three seasons in a five-year period, then yes, the penalties get severe (particularly the one in which your frozen draft pick gets moved to the end of the first-round). This would not have been a major concern for Dolan as it related to going over for the very first time in 2026-2027, obviously.
It was really just the money.
More disingenuous horseshit.
Maybe instead of moving McBride the person we should be looking to move is Bridges. I know he was huge last year but he plays our most stocked position and makes a ton of money.
I would hate to lose him but we could probably get two rotation quality players and maybe a pick to refill out coffers if we moved him.
Dallas is stacked at the 4 and 5 (Gafford, Lively, Johnson, Washington, Aldama, Rishacher). So we could do Bridges for one of Washington/Aldama and one of Gafford/Lively.
They have a real log jam at the 4/5 and are weak at the 2 and could compete for the playoffs especially if they added someone like Bridges.
Either one of Aldama and Washington would give us amazing depth at the 4, something we’ve haven’t had since trading Randle and Toppin. And both Lively and Gafford are starting quality centers that would let us occasionally play Towns at the 4 and give us a ton of injury cushion.
If we got Lively we would add real future upside, with connected injury concerns (he wouldn’t be potentially available if they weren’t there) but we still have Drummond to help until he gets completely healthy or if he gets hurt, and if it ended up being Gafford we could probably ask for a pick as well.
Is that even severe?
You can win three championships in a row over the second apron and the only penalty is one pick moved to the end of the round.
Would you break up a team that just won two titles in a row to avoid a first round pick moving to the end of the first round? I wouldn’t.
I think it’s a really smart system.
It gives you all the flexibility in the world while you’re building. And if you do a great job, you can pay everyone and keep the team together for years. No penalties. Just a tax on your owner.
But you have to stand still and give other teams a chance to catch up. You can’t be winning multiple chips and continue to outpace the league.
That’s a fair trade off!
If they catch up to you, and now you need to get better, then you have to make hard choices. Because now you’re no longer at the top and you need those tools again.
But when you’re at the top, it does not force you to get worse. They intentionally designed it that way so it’s not like the NFL.
As for the training camp invites I think my first choice would be Konchar or Brown as well. Probably Konchar since he is more of a true 3 and could better play the 4 in a pinch. Agbaji might be worth it over both of them though if we think there is upside left. None of them are likely to be in the rotation and the slight potential step down might be worth it if we think he could improve and be a longer term asset.
But if we went center instead I would roll the dice on Wiseman over Eubanks. Wiseman still has possible upside left. He has essentially missed 3 of his first 6 seasons to injury. In the three seasons he played he has 3000 minutes and averaged 17.3pts/10.7reb/1.3blks per/36 on 56.8 efg% and a 59.1 TS%.
His adjusted +/- and has been dreadful but so has Eubanks every season save one with Portland. There might be juice left to squeeze with Wiseman and if there is upside left he’s much better than Eubanks and if there isn’t they are likely a wash anyway. Plus again he is young so if he does have some untapped potential he could be a longer term piece.
I like Clarkson alright, but I wish we hadn’t signed him. He played well down the stretch and improved on defense but he does not fill a need for us at all. We have a ton of depth at the 1 and 2. I would rather have two of the training camp invitees and than have one of them and Clarkson.
We must accept the limit of the 2nd apron as a team maximum salary cap expenditure that is set by its current owner and not the league.
KAT has a decision to make:
a) opts out and takes a deal like OG at $40m aav
b) opt out and takes a deal at $50m aav
c) doesn’t sign extension and plays the TBD game
So far its looks like he’s chosen option C. If the season starts and he’s refusing to sign extension, then Leon has to do what’s best for the team.
I don’t know what that is because we never know what alternative options Leon has but you can bet its game on.
Once KAT is situated, then Leon knows what his options for Deuce are. At that point, Deuce gets to make a decision.
If Google is to be believed, we can still cut Clarkson and sign one of these camp invites without negatively impacting our apron status since it would probably be a salary-neutral swap. I hope that’s the case cause I hold him in the same regard as Ben and Strat do. Nice guy and all but infuriatingly tough watch when he doesn’t have it going.
That’s exactly why I suggested it’s subject to change 🙂
Maybe Leon just didn’t think Mitch was the right guy to fight over.
lol…hear you but that was the only guy to fight over. TBD I guess but I just dont see it.
I just figured out why the $3,273,768 the Knicks left on the salary cap is an important amount.
If they sign one more minimum contract before the season starts it leaves $824,347 which is almost exactly the cost ($816,474) to sign a player from February 12th to the end of the season.
The trade deadline is Feb 11th.
Once again we will probably use every ounce of the cap space we have under the apron. Brock Aller is good.
I’m seeing the name of our owner a lot of times, can we change it to the one who shall not be named ? 🤭😂
People change their minds.
A week ago your boy Steve Ballmer boldly proclaimed he was going to fight this punishment to his dying breath. A few days ago he capitulated meekly.
I don’t hold out hope when there’s sound logic behind a decision. But when the decisions are so stupid like the ones Ballmer and Dolan made, I tend to have a little faith they will get eventually get knocked off their donkeys.
It wouldn’t be salary cap-neutral since Clarkson’s deal is fully guaranteed. His salary can only be moved off the Knicks’ ledger via trade. And although Clarkson waived his implied no-trade clause, he still cannot be traded until after December 15.
Man, I would hate to trade Bridges. I think his contributions to our team are REALLY underrated. Wing stop is a big part of our formula for success. I think Bridges play is what allows OG to soar.
No one needs to pay for anyone out of their contract.
Leon will assign what he considers a price he can live with on both of them and adjust accordingly. If he deems KAT good value at 60M, he’ll pay it and if that means moving Hart or Deuce or Bridges… so be it.
I’m not so sure it wasn’t Leon who said “no thanks” to Mitch at 47M/3 for a guy who had to be handled like a China doll to have him available for the playoffs and then watch him screw the pooch with his hand, while being unplayable for large tranches of the game.
Dolan is the boss and he is allowed to set a limit on payroll/ amount of tax/ subsequent restrictions, no matter what we think. And we can very strenuously object our little hearts out.
He is going to make as much profit as he thinks he can the next few years. I understand ticket prices are up 47% this coming season. He’s going to pay as little extra fees as possible. He understands this was likely a one shot deal for a championship. OKC isn’t likely to have injury problems with a young team 3 years in a row. SA will likely better. Our injury luck will probably be worse. A bunch of teams in the east are better. Dolan is making seemingly smart decisions from a business standpoint.
Bleep – thanks for the clarification Timo.
I sure can.
Maybe it’s time for sh!tface to pay some taxes for MSG then.
IMO going over the 2nd apron is mostly irrelevant for someone like Dolan. It’s when you go over it and how long you expect to be over it that makes some of the longer term downsides significant.
The reason for not wanting to go over this year may not be significant next year or the year after. It depends on how long they think the window for this team is open, which players they expect to keep around for that window, how much they will cost etc..
It would not shock me in the least if Dolan eventually goes over the 2nd apron. It’s just not happening this year. It will happen when it’s critical for remaining a contender but not going to last long enough to damage the long terms picks and other flexibility.
Agreed, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to get an offer of 5M+ from anyone else as an UFA. We could still make him an offer and he could choose to stay with NY to compete on a contender for whatever we offer.
Until KAT is situated, Leon can’t do anything with Hart, Deuce, Dadiet or Nickel etc…If I’m Deuce I’m telling KAT…common man…
I’m sure Brock would love to sign someone like Nickel or whomever impresses in the camp on a multi year team friendly non guaranteed type deal and avoid a potential Diawara 2.0 situation which actually worked out suprisingly well.
Think below Mo Diawara contract will age to be the most valuable in the whole league and will be copied by every GM moving forward. Feels like music record deal from the 80s and 90s.
Yearly Salary & Cap Hit
2026–27: $2,622,139
2027–28: $2,753,246
2028–29: $2,884,353 (Non-guaranteed)
2029–30: $3,019,000 (Team option)
Common man? Huh?
Robbins waived?
Guess he’s Westchester bound.
It’s Euby v. Wisey now.
I’ll be damned if I have a clue who of the flotsam and jetsam that the Knicks added in some way to the team these past couple of days will make the team. But I hope that one of the center dart throws works out. Wiseman, Eubanks or Robbins have a shot. Secretly I’m rooting for Wiseman who has had so much bad luck it’s crazy. Former #2 pick overall is only 25. It would be an amazing redemption story.
anything about wiseman’s stats that show any promise of being useful to us?
so like 5th overall in defense last season, but ranked 29th in blocks…
maybe blocks aren’t that key to overall defense…
without mitch, we’ll probably be ranked last this season in blocks…
Robbins is a stiff, zero chance he’s the guy.
Is Cole Aldrich around? He’s only 37…
Robbins was maybe the answer on a two-way deal. Because most those guys are stiffs. We just need another big body.
Unfortunately, we don’t just need another big body. If Eubanks was injured but is fully recovered and not washed, I think he could win the job. But that is a big if. Wiseman, who knows? If Robbins is already assigned to G league, that’s not very promising, but he is actually a big body and a young snd healthy one at that.
Eubanks and Wiseman take up an NBA roster spot. Robbins would be a two-way.
I don’t think highly of Robbins, I just figured he was a two-way candidate. Guess he’s not even that.
It probably makes sense to wait and grab a two-way big after roster cuts.
My theory is that Robbins was kept around an additional day as the 14th contract allowing Knicks to make the remainder of their Exhibit 9 signings.
With signings done, and purpose served, off he goes to G-League.
That could certainly be. It could also be that other teams were competing for Eubanks and they kept Robbin’s until Eubanks signed.
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