BlueKnickers wrote:Knixkik wrote:BlueKnickers wrote:Knixkik wrote:BlueKnickers wrote:Philc1 wrote:Blade37db wrote:I don't understand the NBA cap with it's aprons and rules like I do the NFL's.
Can the Knicks sign a 1st round draft pick with our current cap situation and/or if they decide to re-sign Shamet with Bird rights?
Knicks are about $17 million under second apron next offseason. They have 3 key free agents (Mitch, Shamet and Diawara). Diawara is RFA so the Knicks can match any offers on him. Mitch is likely to get a offer of $17 million or more just by himself and he’s UFA so he the Knicks have no ability to match but they can outbid but that will mean going over the second apron at least for a second year.
The second apron has immediate penalties like only being authorized to use taxpayer MLE and not non-taxpayer MLE to sign free agents which is a difference of several million. The bigger penalty is if a team is above second apron 3 out of 5 years their first round pick is automatically moved to the end of the first round
Like Martin said teams can still resign their own players and sign draft picks but that still can push you over second or first apron. One thing about the cap is you can’t even try to roster less than 12 players to try to stay under second apron because the nba automatically adds salaries matching the league minimum for whatever number of roster spots you aren’t using
In layman's terms, does this mean the Knicks can blow out their cap but still retain everyone on the current roster, but they would be severely handicapped in signing players in free agency?
This is exactly right. If they want to go over the second apron, might as well overpay free agents for 2 years because how far they go over doesn’t matter. If they want to move on from Mitch due to all of his concerns, they have flexibility to remain under the second apron. Obviously depends on how things go the next couple of weeks. The mitch decision becomes the second apron decision though. Knicks can only go over 2 years in a row, so big decisions ahead.
I see. So Mitch is potentially our Either/Or player.
If it means running the same team back again that is hardly a bad outcome. Experience playing together has real value
Right. I assume making the finals means no major changes to the core.
Assuming Jose picks up his player option, it would mean 9 players under contract. Shamet and Diawara should be back on multi-year contracts, and then need to fill at least 3 more slots to get to 14 with rookies/ vet minimum guys. We should be able to do all of that and stay below the second apron. If we are also signing Mitch, we are exploding over the second apron.
Remember, once we go over, we essentially start a 2-year clock. Once those 2 seasons are up, it means changes to the core of the team to some degree. So Mitch is the deciding factor to start that clock or not next season.
In that case, barring injury, most of our starters could remain highly productive longer than the next two seasons.
If I understand correctly then it is probably more important to protect our core than prioritize Mitch.
I believe we can find big bodies for paint protection on the cheap. I was interested in what Trey Jemison could do for us. He's 6'10" with a legit power forward body and looked like he could give us some presence in the paint.
So this is good stuff IMO. Knicks could ABSOLUTELY extend and keep all their guys and be 100% justified, both talent wise, age wise, etc.
BUT but but, if you were Leon and knew that your roster would be locked in or be very inflexible over the next 2-4 years with the core of Brunson, Hart, Bridges, OG, KAT... what moves *may* you think about. The starters are literally all 30 give or take 6 months. That's a easily an additional 2-3 years at prime athleticism, age, bball IQ, etc. Perfect window to have a 3 year run at championship easily.
Full roster would be:
Starters: Brunson, Hart, Bridges, OG, KAT.
Bench: GTA, Deuce, Clarkson, Shamet, Mitch.
Extra Bench: Kolek, McCullar, Mo, Huk, Sochan, Dadiet, Trey.
Which role on the team would you target most that would help extend the timeline of the starters and which bench players are overlapping enough that you would move in lieu of this last summer of opportunity to make a trade. And would that trade be worthwhile enough or nah?
Knicks got #24, 31, 55 and they aint gonna just sit tight in this very very deep draft IMHO. What the opportunity is is another story, and of course another team got to have similar visions to trade down and grab something.
For me, there are 3 types of roles that I think Leon/WWW would target:
1) Backup C who could possibly shoot from distance, or a backup C who could mirror the Mitch role but with some scoring capability.
2) Guys with breakdown ability. Knicks just don't have a guy off bench who has the handle and speed with distance shooting to cause havok.
3) Another wingstop who is slightly different than Hart, OG, Mikal.
Morey Johnson Jr would be one example: wingstop that is a somewhat bigger PF than OG who is also a very good weakside defender and rim protector. Slot next to KAT or small ball C with distance shooting potential. Zuby Ejiofor or Jayden Quaintance too.
Or perhaps Luigi Suigo or Henri Veesaar to do long term KAT things? If Aday Mara falls past 14, Knicks should think about hunting him. Or Chris Cenac or Baba Miller as second round developmental fliers? Trevon Brazile has Mitch vibes in bounciness, defense with decent hands.
Is Meleek Thomas a 20's pick? His distance shooting and ball handling are something the Knicks don't got. Dailyn Swain is a wingstop defender with handles and is always downhill to rim.
If you are Leon, what's your choice? You got Brock Aller just getting the cold and hot sweats thinking about doing a trade with that #31 pick. This is his dream scenario with the second round now on a completely separate day; he is going to have 12 extra hours to find a trade in the second round. Brock got the whole finals series to figure out a trade to move up in the first round and meld heads with Walt to find a guy in the 11-23 range to move up to? SAS did move up to #15 to draft Kawhi and no one saw that coming? George Hill was traded for that #15 pick.
5/26/2026 3:07 PM