Knicks GM Scott Perry is reportedly leaving the organization this summer

The New York Knicks won’t extend the contract of General Manager Scott Perry once his deal runs out in June.

The news broke late Tuesday and was first reported by Steve Popper of Newsday, whose post caught everybody a little bit by surprise. While Perry’s deal was expiring, few fans were expecting the Knicks to lose their GM after he spent the last six years at the helm of the organization.

Perry arrived in New York all the way back in 2017 and had already signed an extension in 2021, one year after he was kept in town by current team president Leon Rose. Rose was named to that position in 2020 and decided to keep Perry around.

The trifecta of Leon Rose, William Wesley (executive VP), and Scott Perry is thus no more.

Under the reign of Perry, if nothing else, the Knicks found peace and even success to a certain extent, making it to the postseason twice and for the first time since 2013 in the 2021 and 2023 campaigns.

Not only did Perry help the Knicks build through the draft, but he was also the main man making it possible for New York to land a two-time All-Star in Julius Randle back in the summer of 2019 before inking him to a multi-year extension back in Aug. 2021.

It’s believed that one of the reasons Perry factored into his exit from New York is losing ground to the pair of William Wesley and Senior Basketball Advisor Gersson Rosas, per Steve Popper. With the latter two “taking on a more prominent role in shaping the roster,” Perry has decided to move on from the franchise.

Leon Rose brought a few fellas along with him when he took office, and those lads started to eat from Perry’s pie slowly but surely, ultimately leading him to make this decision instead of extending his contract with the organization.

Under Perry, the Knicks completed some shrewd deals such as trading Carmelo Anthony to Oklahoma City in 2017 (that trade brought a saucy second-round pick that turned into Mitchell Robinson) and sending Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas before the 2019 trade deadline, in effect opening enough room for NYK to land Julius Randle later that year.

The news of Perry’s departure might feel irrelevant, but the Knicks are entering one of the most important offseasons in recent history.

The franchise doesn’t have an operating GM now, boasts no 2023 draft picks, and has to make some serious decisions about how they want to shape the roster ahead of next season and beyond. Will they pivot away from the current rotation, instead focusing on trying to find the long-sought superstar by moving some of the young players/future picks to land that mystery man? With a question mark sitting on the GM chair now, who’s to say what the Knicks will do next.

Will the Knicks try to convince now-former-Warriors-president-and-GM Bob Mayers to move to the East Coast just after leaving The Bay? (Not happening)

We are still a couple of weeks from the draft and a full month before free agency kicks off, but the Knicks should make a well-thought move as soon as they can in order to avoid losing ground to all other franchises around the NBA landscape.

Equally exciting and/but worrying times ahead, folks. Buckle up.