Can this year’s New York Knicks claim their first championship since 1973, or at the very least make their first NBA Finals since 2000?
Things are certainly looking up in The City That Never Sleeps for its favorite basketball franchise (with apologies to the largely-unloved Brooklyn Nets).
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After advancing to their first Eastern Conference Finals in a quarter-century, the Knicks are looking to vault past two injury-plagued former East elites this year — the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers, both of whom look far more vulnerable without their ailing All-NBA stars Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton, respectively — and compete for a Larry O’Brien Trophy with much the same cast of characters they fielded in 2024-25.
New York has added a pair of solid veteran free agent signings, power forward Guerschon Yabusele and former Sixth Man of the Year combo guard Jordan Clarkson, to likely bolster its bench. The Knicks also signed three overqualified Exhibit 9 training camp players in Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet, and Garrison Mathews.
How many of that group will make the cut and join new head coach Mike Brown’s roster and rotation this fall? To bring on more than one of these players, New York will need to ditch one of its current guaranteed contracts.
NBA cap expert Bobby Marks of ESPN has predicted that, much as they did last year, the Knicks will make a trade this month.
Last year, New York totally uprooted their very core, flipping a package center around three-time All-Star power forward Julius Randle, pesky combo guard Donte DiVincenzo, and draft equity to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for a deal toplined by now-five-time All-Star power forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns.
This year, however, Marks believes the Knicks will be looking to improve around the margins rather than disrupt their core.
Life As A Hard-Capped Team
“Because they improved their bench in the offseason by signing Guerschon Yabusele to the tax mid-level exception, they are hard-capped at the second apron,” Marks writes. “The restriction will force New York to trade either one of its draft picks from last June (Tyler Kolek or Pacome Dadiet) if the goal is to retain veterans Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamet. Despite being over the first apron, the Knicks are allowed to include cash in any trade and have up to eight second-round picks available. Trading Dadiet’s $2.8 million salary would allow New York to sign a 15th player during the season.””
The Knicks could also go big and offload reserve point guard Miles McBride, but it doesn’t seem like the team has the appetite for that just yet.
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