News & Blogs
Knicks’ Mike Brown challenges Mo Diawara to ‘take a step forward’ in 2026-27 – SNY
Saturday Posted & Toasted Notes: Wise men, French presidents, BrickBron James – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Training Camp Notes: Latest contract extension talks; backup center battle – SNY
Knicks Bulletin: ‘Either joint replacement, let it go, or, I guess, amputation’ – Posting & Toasting
Knicks’ Mohamed Diawara: Moves past finger injury – CBS Sports
Mike Brown: Knicks starters will play, ‘but not a lot,’ in opener vs. 76ers – New York Daily News
Claudio Casino 5.0! Overs/Unders Picks for the 2026-27 Knicks Season! | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Knicks Preseason Preview: Biggest Questions Before Game 1 – Knicks Fan TV
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134 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.10.05)”
This thread is going to get interesting once people see KAT’s comments today about his extension…
Call me crazy, but I’m starting to think that James Dolan’s imposed hard cap that he hastily announced to the front office and players for the first time a few months ago is having some negative consequences for the New York Knicks.
Sorry to get so controversial on a Monday!
Sigh…
It’s not Dolan. It can’t be Dolan. Dolan made the championship happen with bravura and abstinence.
Lol this is good:
Right, just max all of ‘em, aprons be damned!
My high opinion of KAT is well known, but in reality he was *already* paid market value for what he’s done in the past and for bringing the championship home.(*)
And the unfortunate business reality of the NBA is that it’s very difficult to keep a championship team together. The system doesn’t want a high-caliber veteran nucleus to be paid retail by any one team. Everything about it steers things in the other direction.
We had this multi-day convo a couple weeks after the parade — they’re going to have to throw pieces of the championship team overboard. No way around it. Hopefully they can be smart about it.
(*) Good place here for the Don Draper, “That’s what the money is for!” meme.
Glad you’ve come around, big guy 😉
Karl-Anthony Towns openly discussed his frustration with contract negotiations this summer: “Simply put, I want to do something that can keep the team together, and that can work with the Knicks and also values me. And, I mean, none of those things have come close to happening. … I just won a championship, you thought it would be pretty easy.”
I’m chill with whatever happens. Looking forward to tonight!
yeah, not looking forward to KAT getting asked and answering this same question for the next how ever many months it takes to get things worked out…
life, and sports fandom in particular, is messy…
getting ready to watch the Lanterns finale…
the DC stuff has been pretty consistently excellent on HBOmax…the penguin and peacemaker were both well done…
very different shows…very different…not sure how to categorize Lanterns…
may not be the direction they’re headed – wouldn’t mind though seeing more space adventure stuff…
with nathan fillion leading the way as the captain of a ragtag crew bringing justice and fun to the galaxy…
NBACentral
@TheDunkCentral
·
1h
“It don’t look good,” 😬
– KAT on signing an extension with the Knicks
(Via
@JLEdwardsIII
)
Don’t worry guys. Isiah will fix it.
Given Dolan’s history, I don’t think public venting is a particularly good negotiating tactic if you are serious about sticking around.
That’s not quite true, E. The system does want you to be able to keep your team together… for a little while. That’s why there is no real punishment until you’ve exceeded the SA 3 times in 4 years. They just don’t want you to be able to continue getting better while you’re over the SA.
It’s all designed to prevent dynasties like the Warriors. But it’s actually very easy to keep a championship team together for 1-2 years.
New way of looking at it…
2024 – KAT was happy at the start of camp, the Knicks did not win a chip
2025 – KAT was complaining at the start of camp, the Knicks did win a chip.
Seems like we’re in a good place 🙂
Kinda lame that like half the Sixers team is out tonight… maybe a bit of foreshadowing for their season to come?
It’s been excellent. As a longtime GL (comics/DC animation) fan, it’s been extremely refreshing to see them explore the darker, more human aspects of Green Lantern, rather than the fantastical space operatics that make Marvel properties so tiring and samey. It’s been really faithful to some less-trodden themes from specific runs of the comics like Emerald Twilight and Secret Origins.
Finale is getting some flak for not having a big, bombastic conflict, but that hasn’t been the tone of the season at all and I’m glad for it. Sets up quite a lot of directions for them to go, especially if Fillion randomly becomes unavailable – a frequent issue.
A large nothingburger.
Kat has been largely overpaid his entire career. No one thinks he is anything near a max player. Over his large body of work he played like a max player for 17 games.
He is under contract for this season and has an option for the next which he can decline.
It would be financial malpractice for Leon to give him anywhere near a max contract now. All the passive aggressive quotes have zero bearing on business practices. Every dollar Leon doesn’t pay 32-37 yr old KAT is a dollar that can be spent on the rest of the team.
This isn’t Leon’s first rodeo negotiating a contract.
And this is what I find so infuriating about the brand new Dolan Mandate.
Rose and co. did an excellent job putting off the second apron for as long as possible, such that we sacrificed next-to-nothing by avoiding it until after we won a championship. It was genuinely a masterclass in cap management.
We were thus perfectly positioned to enter it for a year or two to defend our damn title, before even having to decide if we wanted to pay the truly onerous costs. This was so obviously the strategy of the front office (i.e. entering the second apron for the first time in 2026-2027) that it was openly discussed among the fans who care about this stuff.
Even if we didn’t have all the ironclad reporting that we do, in fact, have, indicating that Dolan pulled the rug during a fucking WFAN interview, it would still be obvious from the circumstances.
So we’re left with a cap sheet that was meticulously set up to go into the second apron in 2026-2027 and maybe beyond, that all of a sudden has to be adapted to fit this stupid, greedy, dishonest mandate.
I’m sure the usual crowd will be stunned that anyone dare criticize Dolan so soon after we won a title, as if I’m the first person to ever criticize an owner who refused to pay to keep a championship team together, and I have a lot of confidence that the front office will do as good a job as can be done under these circumstances.
But don’t let anyone tell you you’re not allowed to think it sucks.
reality based viewing…this is a story, and will continue to be one…cuz, media and fans…
it may impact both KAT and the team to some extent…
don’t think so, really…
media ain’t letting go though…
if it bleeds it leads, this is the closest to that…right now what other drama beside dolan and the second apron is there?
funny, people who don’t really care about the noise this will make: people negotiating, people reporting…
The Knicks play tonight? How did that happen?
Excuse me, I’ll watch title highlights instead. Not ready for a new season.
Again, not quite. All those dollars are available right now.
Staying under the second apron is all about helping you acquire someone who is not already on the team.
So KAT’s really being asked to sacrifice so that it will be easier to trade him or one of his teammates.
I knew this was a major problem. Both KAT and Dolan are to blame.
Guy scored 5 points in the closeout game and averaged 13 in the finals. Definitively not worth 35% or his $272m max money. He’s the 3rd best player on a championship team.
Also, he’s full of shit about how representing Domenican community means everything to him and playing & winning with Nova boys is a lot of fun…blah blah blah…Either take the 5yr – $200m or you’re full of shit.
Dolan is a deuchebag who doesn’t care about NYC or its fans. Winning is just not important to him. Brining joy to others is not important to him. It’s just entertainment. Watched him at the oparade and his body language communicated that he didn’t even want to be there standing next to Mamdani.
The reality is that if he doesn’t sign, KAT will get traded before the deadline if not sooner. All depends on what options Leon has. At best, Leon will get back between 70 and 80 cents worth of his talent and age 32-36 production.
One of them really needs to step up and ask Jalen how he feels about taking less money only to watch ownership pocket it instead of spending it.
Isn’t this exactly what Howard Beck is for? Or Frank Isola?
Jalen is so respectful that he’ll likely produce a meaningless sound bite paying respect to “Mr Dolan”, but the question is begging to be asked.
No offense, Director, but have you even seen KAT’s advanced playoff numbers?:
Player Efficiency Rating (PER) – 30.5 (1st in 2026 Playoffs)
Win Shares (WS) – 2.3 (1st in 2026 Playoffs)
True Shooting Percentage (TS%) – 68.4%
Total Plus-Minus (+/-) – +259 (Historic high)
Idk what dollar amount to put on that performance, but I can see why KAT thinks he deserves some credit.
That’s Jalen Duren money. KAT can top that bum in his sleep.
KAT stated he’s willing to take less than the max to help keep the team together.
No offense taken. My position is that we tend to overvalue our players.
Last season, KAT was the 3rd best player on the team but he made $20m more that Brunson and $14m more than OG. This mispricing pendulum has to reverse back to equilibrium.
Put it this way, assume you’re one of other 29 gms, What would you you trade for KATs age 32 -36 season while paying him $68m aav?
You think it’s a councidence that the best haul Minessota received for KAT at $53m aav and age 29-31 season was Randle and Donte?
Alas, I guess we’re back to being a rudderless mess. The ship be sinking y’all!
The offer (reportedly) on the table to KAT is for 4y/$200M.
He would be 35 years and 5 months old in April 2031, the final regular season month of the extension.
If the contract were structured with ascending salaries, as is typical, the offer for the first year of the extension, 2027-28, would be around $45M, or $16M less than his guaranteed $61M player option for that season.
That’s just a negotiating tactic to anchor price. KAT is not worth the max.
KAT is a better player than OG.
KAT was a better player than OG. Big difference.
Kat had an inexplicably great analytical playoffs performance.
He wasn’t the Finals MVP tho neither he took the team by the hand to lead it to the promised land.
He can be reasonable and become a Legend or try to Max and start his… Odyssey…
Facts. Just straight greedy. Already made half a billion. Check the ego and leave some money for Deuce and Hart or get every dollar you can and risk finishing your career like Shaq.
Karl-Anthony Towns on his extension talks with the Knicks, per
@SbondyNBA
“Simply put – I want to do something to keep the team together and can work with the Knicks and also values me. And none of those things are close to happening.”
so 50 million a year is too low…
looking for closer to 30% than 25% of the cap…
yuck…
Just split the difference at around $235 mil. Easy peasy.
220 million over 4 wouldn’t be the worse to me…
Edit: i take it back, keeping KAT at 55 million a year does seem too much…no more than 54…
Yeah, no KAT. He’s important to us winning another title but you can’t say you want to keep the core together and then offer to take a Melo like discount of a few million a year.
I get being mad at Dolan for not wanting to go into the 2nd apron at all but if you re-sign KAT and he barely takes a “discount” then why would Josh, Mikal and OG take a discount (or Brunson for that matter) and at that point you’re blowing well past the 2nd apron and no owner would want to do that.
Jalen’s “discount” is what allowed us to get KAT in the first place. And he’s elgible for so much solely because he was a number one pick and has been an all star and is now entering his 30’s. It’s unsustainable for any team to re-sign guys for more and more money as they get older and decline.
The 2nd apron rules suck., no doubt. But until it’s changed players like KAT have a choice to make.
That’s what I’ve been saying all summer. By not signing, he made the choice. We’re all just blinded by the good vibes, highlight memories, hopes and dreams.
Not really sure what to think about KAT. The max for him, or anything remotely close, is too much. He’s old.
And I don’t know who we are bidding against.
He’s still a very good player. I don’t think he’s better than OG but the playoff numbers suggest so.
Maybe we should have someone in Dolan’s circle offer him free helicopter rides to make up the difference. (Cough couch LeBron)
KAT had a 9.4 BPM in the playoffs and honestly that doesn’t even capture his full value, because it doesn’t capture the massive effect of his spacing.
The Knicks were +258 in KAT’s 578 playoff minutes. They were +25 in the remaining 335 minutes.
That +258 is the single highest single season +/- in the play-by-play era. If you want the Knicks to win another chip, you need that guy playing like that or fuhgettaboutit.
I’d be as wary of signing KAT to his max as the next guy, but there’s a whole lot of daylight between that and the literal Jalen Duren offer we have on the table to the guy who just lead the NBA playoffs in BPM en route to a championship.
Sorry, but until we’re given any reason to believe otherwise I’m going with Occam’s Razor here–looks like we’re handcuffed and thus have to make unrealistic low ball offers to have a prayer of keeping this core, you know, the one that did the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in sports, together.
Swap out KAT for Jalen Duren.
We probably lose in the first round. No exaggeration.
Mitchell Robinson
Well, if Diawara has the same impact as Frank as a defender and ball mover, but at 6′ 9″ and with a shot, sign me up as long as he promises to not be hurt every 6 weeks during the season and every summer like Frank. We need him to develp. Can’t develop if you are always hurt.
He supposedly had a great summer.
Someone needs to crunch the numbers and explain to Towns what it’s going to take to stay out of the 2nd apron and keep the starters together.
From his comments, it sounds a lot like he thinks this is just about money/respect. He doesn’t seem to realize that trade flexibility and future draft picks are at stake and critical for the long term future.
I’m confident KAT understands the new SA market dynamics* and the implications of his insisting on close to a max deal. At the same time, Leon understands KATs value to the team’s chances. Unless Dolan is willing to walk back his SA position ( non 0 chance?) is there a number that KAT will accept that wont cripple the future. I take KAT’s statements today as negotiating theater.
*Strat- KAT’s agent is co-head of CAA basketball and Im certain she’s explained the SA dynamics. This is part theater flexing on his part…. I hope. ( His agent also knows Leon wont go beyond a certain number)
I still think this gets done. We got two weeks til the start of the season. KAT’s struggling to accept that he’s not a max guy. He’ll get there.
is anyone having an issue with MSG?
2027-28 salaries:
Kat – $61M (player option)
Jalen – $40
OG – $45
Hart – $22 (team option)
Bridges – $36
Total: $204
Alvarado, Shamet & Diawara $13M
The 2nd apron cap next season is $222M
Someone explain to me were “extensions” fit in? The 2nd apron is a hard cap and that’s that.
That’s the problem! I think these guys understand the SA pretty well, much better than Dolan wants them to.
You don’t commit to staying under the second apron to keep a team together. You do it so it will be easier to tear the team apart. So asking these guys to take less “to keep the team together” is quite clearly blowing smoke up their ass.
I mean, from KAT’s perspective, the second apron shouldn’t matter. Why should Dolan save money?
Time for Knicks bball
At Last!
Let’s enjoy some champion friendly ball
jalen got 40 million a year over 5 years…
supposedly we offered 50 million a year over 4 years…
that rocks that all 5 of our starters, are starting…
good way to start the season…
At least I just saw Jalen Brunson cook :’)
Money is always a factor, but Dolan has never been cheap. It’s the long term issues related to trade flexibility and draft picks that are the primary reason to avoid the 2nd apron for as long as possible.
Huk down
Our Starters play fast enough for preseason and seem focused
brutal huk. looks like achilles.
yeah looked like no contact, that’s achilles like
when do the playoffs start?
pt I was thinking the same thing. Damn.
Is MSG only available through an app now?
Strat, do you think an NBA front office concluded the near-term ability to trade our 2034 first-round pick was more valuable than Mitchell Robinson?
Drummond looks like he shoots free throws as well as Mitch, so that’s continuinity at least
I have to watch on DAZN now, Gotham Sports is defunct. I won’t miss it, crashed all the damn time.
Thoughts on headband Kolek?
None of those things “keep the team together”, do they?
I’ve got MSG on my Spectrum cable
every player should wear a headband. Kolek should wear a flower in his hair though.
thinking it must be me, but, he looks like he showed up to camp heavy again…
Want to see Eubanks, Mo, Nickel, and (to a lesser extent) Wiseman.
yep Geo he looks slightly more rotund than the rest of the team…
Drummond can’t jump to save his life but he dribbled like Iverson when he got fouled
Very entertaining game so far
Diawara already moving better than his summer league fiasco
Just when I read that Diawara threw a lazy pass, but then hustled back and swatted the shot – that I like alot
james wiseman doesn’t seem to bring much physicality…
he is tall though, and has a lot of length…
Philly is super amped tonight-and that’s to be expected. Not the best showcase for some of our marginal talent.
Second apron penalties:
Wiseman ain’t very strong in the paint but goes to the right spots easily. As a 3rd C he gets my vote so far. Moving well, got the offensive rebound and the bucket, caught the lob pass and dunked.
3 very Nice mins!
Otoh Pacome….
Philly looks like they can really score. And they have depth too this season.
Knicks so far, if think of order of substitutions into the game as indicators of each players NBA readiness, then our backup guards are way ahead of our backup big men (except for Drummond)
Ryan McMahon has really escaped scrutiny for someone who makes real money and sucks.
I had to load the DAZN app on my tv and log in. At least it didn’t cost me.
Sorry guys, game thread for the next one….
I squarely blame CRONIN!!!!
Miss you BC
There was one play where Wiseman was trying to get a rebound and just kept missing like he was trying to catch a fly.
This is what happens if you do it 3 times in 5 seasons.
Yankees with 3 errors in the first inning.
Schlittler should sue his team for non-support
The frozen pick is immediate after one season. It takes years to unfreeze it. So are the trade restrictions and loss of exceptions.
Diawara looks great physically, still raw but stronger and less flailing. I hope he gets lots of reps all year.
Guess we can go ahead and trade Deuce.
I didn’t mind Drummond getting blocked on that weak move to the basket because he ran the floor after his own block.
I’m familiar with Freddy Peralta’s work and he’s a bum so the Yankees will get on the board soon
Deuce not exactly putting on a show. Drummond seems invested
Drummond moved well defensively on that sequence.
more errors than hits so far for the yanks this series…
game 165 this season could be one of the last games they play for a while…
Diawara has gotten cooked 3 times in a row
Those Wiseman screens are like a feather on the breeze.
well my stream died, so probably a sign.
wiseman looks average, but he is drawing FT like a superstar.
Didn’t recognize Bruce brown without the cowboy hat
Wiseman and Drummond don’t give the game changing vibe (so far!) but i like their mentality/energy
Only turning on now. Well, Wiseman has a nice number. #35 🙂
Summer league vibes 😛
They got Dillon Jones “the locker room snitch”
We’re Doomed!
Eubanks looks like a big Pee Wee Herman
MY EYES !!!
Man, how did Bruce Brown ever get paid anything above the minimum?
Nickel has 1960’s legs
cyber, you stayed up for this? now that’s a true fan!
Hardcore stuff ONLY for diehards now
KYN, you too!
And i started late, so only end of bench action for me. But i have Clyde and Breen, so all is good. 😉
Maybe we’re stealth practicing big comebacks?
That’s true, it’s been two additional months without the two of them together, right?
Cyber is the GOAT FAN today
I’m getting paid while watching this!
I only watched end of bench… i should get paid too !!! 😀
Our 3rd big situation is no bueno.
I thought Nickel looked more athletic in summer league. He doesn’t look like he even belongs with the scrubs.
If Alvarado had played we could have won this one!
Well, first game, there’s rust and all. And maybe they’re trying to do too much. Let’s see how they look next game.
When his 3p starts falling he’ll be Novak-praised.
Till then we need to be patient…
Actually, I thought Wiseman looked just as good or better than Hukporti did last year. Hukporti this year could be better than last year though (if not seriously injured) since he is young.
Not from what I’m reading. They trigger as soon as the 2nd apron threshold is exceeded the first time.
4 of those 6 penalties wouldn’t even apply to us. We have no exceptions. We can’t use the TPMLE. We can trade our 2033 pick, and probably will, so the 2034 would be frozen by the Stepien rule anyway. And we have 3 more years til the last one kicks in.
It’s just aggregate salaries and throwing cash in trades. You don’t really think you have to break up a championship team for that, do you?
Wiseman was “fine” against end of bench guys, so that’s something.
I think the Tyler Kolek train might finally be leaving the station. I just don’t think he’s athletic enough.
As for Dadiet, are we allowed to stretch him?? Additional by subtraction.
Landry still looks great at least, and I think Deuce will come around nicely.
We could still use another legit PF because I still don’t trust Mo.
Oh and please pay KAT! He’s our last legit center.
Wow, the fielding!
Closest I’ve ever come to turning off a 2 run game.
ha noble, I had a bad feeling on this tampa series…i’ve barely tuned in to it…
literally flipping channels to find anything else to watch…
And yes, the scenario in which we rue losing access to the TPMLE on account of being above the second apron does not exist. We didn’t even use it this offseason!
The Yankee game is a painful watch.
It’s gonna be weird when Aaron Boone gets extended before KAT.
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