Knicks future outlook: Free agency, draft, trade options for newly minted champions
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Knicks future outlook: Free agency, draft, trade options for newly minted champions originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Knicks looked head-and-shoulders above the rest of the East during this year's storybook title run. That gap will shrink next season.
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While New York is set to return mostly the same roster, the Celtics will be adding a full year of Jayson Tatum. The Pacers will have Tyrese Haliburton return. The Pistons will be a year wiser. And other contenders may spring up.
New York should still be the favorites to make it back to the Finals and defend their title. They will have limited flexibility to make improvements to their roster though. They are locked into eight guaranteed contracts next season, and they don't have the cap space or draft picks to make wholesale changes. Giannis Antetokounmpo ain't walking through that door.
The Knicks don't have to make wholesale changes though, and they're not at risk of losing anyone who is absolutely critical to their success. Here's the situation that they are looking at this summer.
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Knicks offseason preview
Limited free agency spending
The Knicks will return all of their starters and most of their bench. They are already an expensive team, which limits their summer spending. They will not have cap space and are projected to be into the luxury tax for the third straight season, with concerns that they will be above the second apron.
Those tax issues ideally shouldn't stop them from bringing back free agent Mitchell Robinson. New York has his Bird rights and the ability to pay him more than anyone. Doing so will severely hamper their flexibility going forward and push them into the dreaded second apron penalties, but the price is worth it.
Robinson is a great defender, an outstanding offensive rebounder, and an important cog in the Knicks' machine. He earned $13 million this past season while giving New York about $20 million worth of production based on my salary model. At just 28 years old, he could earn a starting-level contract somewhere else if the Knicks decide that he is too expensive to keep.
If the Knicks do let Robinson walk, then they don't have great avenues to replace him. Their spending this summer will be limited to minimum salaries and the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception.
There are some decisions deeper on the bench. Landry Shamet is an unrestricted free agent and should get a decent raise from the $2.3 million that he made last year. Jose Alvarado has a $4.5 million player option that he may opt out of. Alvarado could get a multi-year deal in the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
Mohammed Diawara looked intriguing in limited minutes. He's a restricted free agent, and he may be a casualty of the team's limited spending options.
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Draft picks for 2026
The Knicks have the No. 24 and 55 picks in the upcoming draft. Those picks have dropped in value dramatically as many players have withdrawn from the draft over the past month.
The choices at 24 aren't particularly promising. Joshua Jefferson is an older prospect with limited upside, but he's the type of smart jack-of-all-trades forward who could step in immediately and provide quality minutes. Zuby Ejiofor and Tarris Reed are NBA-ready upperclassmen who can defend at a high level, but neither projects as much of a scorer.
The back end of the second round looks even bleaker. It's exceedingly unlikely that the team finds someone who can help them this year. It may be wiser to try and trade that pick or select a draft-and-stash foreign prospect who may blossom down the road.
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What the Knicks can trade
The Knicks emptied out most of the war chest in trading for Bridges two years ago. They can trade their 2026 picks on draft night. After the draft, their 2033 first-round pick becomes available to move.
That's not a ton of ammunition to go after a big fish. Antetokounmpo expressed interest at some points in coming to New York, and he is likely to get moved. But the Knicks simply don't have enough to create the best package without trading multiple high-level starters and trying to create some sort of complex three, four, or five-team trade.
New York doesn't have to make splashy moves in the trade market to get back to this stage anyway. The Knicks overachieved in large part due to their excellent chemistry, so it makes sense for them to run the same group back.