Knicks Morning News (2025.09.22)

I am not the biggest James Edward’s III fan but mostly agreed with his takes in the Q&A article posted above.

I disagree on who would most likely be traded…Kolek has to be the guy precisely because Dadiet has more value, not to mention he would be the more valuable depth piece. But nothing should be done until after preseason anyway, at which time Leon and Brown will have more answers.

I also think that Dadiet, Diawara, and Huk will all be valuable depth pieces beyond this season when major trades are back on the table, either to include in the trade or to have reasonable depth post-trade.

“That said, if the coaches and FO have been watching him for a year-plus and feel like the theory isn’t going to be a reality — or isn’t going to be a reality until he’s on his second contract — then maybe you just punt him as part of going all-in for this year.”

Yes, but I’ve seen enough of him to feel pretty strongly that he’s worth keeping. The game is still a bit too fast for him and his shot is still a bit variable, mostly due to inconsistencies in his form, but he is very skilled and has decent athleticism and excellent size. I would love to see him spotted in every 3-4 games.

The one caveat is in what Diawara shows. If he develops quickly and Dadiet stalls, that could make Dadiet on his larger deal more expendable. But I think there’s value in rostering these young wings, even in a win or bust season. Whereas at age 24, an undersized PG like Kolek would have to quickly become a TJ McConnell-like overachiever in training camp to justify having him on this roster.

I don’t think anyone here disputes that Mikal and OG are both overpaid. The question is: was the alternative of letting them test free agency preferable to signing them to their extensions?

There is also the question of whether the sunk cost issue is relevant. I think it is…the players were acquired at a high cost specifically to be starters on a championship-caliber team. It would be silly to say “Hey, I know we paid a fortune for them, but let’s bail on them after one season because they didn’t measure up to the extension they wanted…even though we have no way to replace them while remaining a serious contender and at the risk of losing them (and all that was paid for them) for nothing.”

At the end of the day,contending teams often have salary imbalances, overpaying some rotation players and underpaying others. In our case, Brunson, Deuce, and Mitch are all woefully underpaid, Yabu and Clarkson are probably underpaid, KAT and Hart are both market value deals, and OG and Mikal are overpaid. At the end of the day, they are still under the second apron even after acquiring a max player in KAT, a feat that some smart KBers thought would be impossible by now.

So as a whole, I don’t really care all that much about overpaying Mikal and OG…so long as they are healthy (remember the injury doom and gloom about OG that some here were forecasting? So far, so good!) and reasonably productive relative to expectations in their respective roles. I personally think that Hollinger’s concerns about Mikal being susceptible to decline is, at best, misguided…he’s the most durable player in the NBA and just turned 29! There is literally no reason to believe that he won’t be a top of rotation player at age 32, and if he opts in to his age 33 season, it’s an expiring deal. I don’t think they would have any trouble dumping that salary along the way, and he could be salary filler in a deal for a Giannis-type superstar. The second apron is going to force some teams to make tough decisions regarding their max players, so who knows who will become available?