Brunson does Knicks Massive favor -- Woj

[brackdan70]

Read on Twitter

Yeah he can opt out of year 4 and sign a 5 year 35% max,
Still leaves a bit on the table and that’s the best case scenario . He really should have waited until next year. He could have done a player option in year 5, so the above is not really accurate. He could have also signed a four extension next year but for more money and with the year 4 PO. He left a lot of money on the table. That tweet is spin.
Thing is he will be 32 yo when that future contract kicks in and he may not be worth a super max then.

[Texas Chuck]

wow some embarrassingly bad takes itt. Neither the Knicks nor Brunson did anything remotely wrong here. And no the assumption of guilt is not there.

[brackdan70]

I know the headline is shocking but is this move really that much of a game changer by itself for the Knicks' ability to build a championship contender? Obviously it gives them more flexibility and reduces some possible financial penalties but depending on how they handle Randle's extension it may just give them some room under the second apron to use the taxpayer MLE for the next few years.

They had the ability to keep this roster together even if Brunson waited until next year to sign a max deal it just would have been a much more expensive roster. What am I missing other than the surprise of seeing a guy take less money upfront? It's still going to be difficult to make improvements to the roster. I feel like they are almost in the same position that they were 24 hours ago except Dolan may save some money.

Agree. It adds no flexibility. It just saves the Knicks money and will keep their tax bill lower. This may allow them long term to keep the team together, but they may have been able to do that anyway.

[Fo-Real]

Seems like he is a "You scratch my back, Ill scratch yours" kind of guy. They brought in his boys (Bridges being the last one), and he is happy to just be high paid instead of demanding to be crazy paid. Seems like a cool thing, I think I'm becoming more and more of a Knicks fan.

[R-DAWG]

I know the headline is shocking but is this move really that much of a game changer by itself for the Knicks' ability to build a championship contender? Obviously it gives them more flexibility and reduces some possible financial penalties but depending on how they handle Randle's extension it may just give them some room under the second apron to use the taxpayer MLE for the next few years.

They had the ability to keep this roster together even if Brunson waited until next year to sign a max deal it just would have been a much more expensive roster. What am I missing other than the surprise of seeing a guy take less money upfront? It's still going to be difficult to make improvements to the roster. I feel like they are almost in the same position that they were 24 hours ago except Dolan may save some money.

Agree. It adds no flexibility. It just saves the Knicks money and will keep their tax bill lower. This may allow them long term to keep the team together, but they may have been able to do that anyway.

It does add some flexibility under the 2nd apron - which opens up the taxpayer mid level and allows you to aggregate outgoing salary in a trades without taking back more money.

Might not make a big difference in terms of landing a 2nd star to team with Brunson, but it does in keeping a 9-10 man rotation and improving in the margins.

I just read Keith Smiths article on Spotrac. The real opportunity for NY is if Randle leaves and Bridges contract comes in starting around $45mm in year 1, NY would have 40mm in space for 7 players - Anonoby, Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Kolek, Dotiet, 2026 1st. This is likely the improvement inflection point where I can see NY flipping Anunoby to recoup some of the draft capital they surrendered for Bridges while opening up a max slot

[cgf]

Have a hard time making sense of this tbh.

The FO is paying all of his friends well and saving him money travelling to see them...but yeah, Jalen's a real mensch.

[cgf]

I know the headline is shocking but is this move really that much of a game changer by itself for the Knicks' ability to build a championship contender? Obviously it gives them more flexibility and reduces some possible financial penalties but depending on how they handle Randle's extension it may just give them some room under the second apron to use the taxpayer MLE for the next few years.

They had the ability to keep this roster together even if Brunson waited until next year to sign a max deal it just would have been a much more expensive roster. What am I missing other than the surprise of seeing a guy take less money upfront? It's still going to be difficult to make improvements to the roster. I feel like they are almost in the same position that they were 24 hours ago except Dolan may save some money.

Agree. It adds no flexibility. It just saves the Knicks money and will keep their tax bill lower. This may allow them long term to keep the team together, but they may have been able to do that anyway.

It does add some flexibility under the 2nd apron - which opens up the taxpayer mid level and allows you to aggregate outgoing salary in a trades without taking back more money.

Might not make a big difference in terms of landing a 2nd star to team with Brunson, but it does in keeping a 9-10 man rotation and improving in the margins.

I just read Keith Smiths article on Spotrac. The real opportunity for NY is if Randle leaves and Bridges contract comes in starting around $45mm in year 1, NY would have 40mm in space for 7 players - Anonoby, Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Kolek, Dotiet, 2026 1st. This is likely the improvement inflection point where I can see NY flipping Anunoby to recoup some of the draft capital they surrendered for Bridges while opening up a max slot

Seems pretty unlikely that that max slot would help us more than Randle + Anunoby

[brackdan70]

I know the headline is shocking but is this move really that much of a game changer by itself for the Knicks' ability to build a championship contender? Obviously it gives them more flexibility and reduces some possible financial penalties but depending on how they handle Randle's extension it may just give them some room under the second apron to use the taxpayer MLE for the next few years.

They had the ability to keep this roster together even if Brunson waited until next year to sign a max deal it just would have been a much more expensive roster. What am I missing other than the surprise of seeing a guy take less money upfront? It's still going to be difficult to make improvements to the roster. I feel like they are almost in the same position that they were 24 hours ago except Dolan may save some money.

Agree. It adds no flexibility. It just saves the Knicks money and will keep their tax bill lower. This may allow them long term to keep the team together, but they may have been able to do that anyway.

It does add some flexibility under the 2nd apron - which opens up the taxpayer mid level and allows you to aggregate outgoing salary in a trades without taking back more money.

Might not make a big difference in terms of landing a 2nd star to team with Brunson, but it does in keeping a 9-10 man rotation and improving in the margins.

I just read Keith Smiths article on Spotrac. The real opportunity for NY is if Randle leaves and Bridges contract comes in starting around $45mm in year 1, NY would have 40mm in space for 7 players - Anonoby, Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Kolek, Dotiet, 2026 1st. This is likely the improvement inflection point where I can see NY flipping Anunoby to recoup some of the draft capital they surrendered for Bridges while opening up a max slot

Yeah maybe. Tax payer mid level really won’t help much, aggregating hard caps them. They are still so close to that 2nd apron that there isn’t much room to do anything meaningful. Letting Randle and OG come of the books for 2/3 of a max slot seems like a net negative. I mean there is a path where they could get better but it’s not the likely outcome. It really just saves the Knicks money. Which is meaningful for the owners. I just don’t see why Brunson talked himself into this.

[R-DAWG]

Agree. It adds no flexibility. It just saves the Knicks money and will keep their tax bill lower. This may allow them long term to keep the team together, but they may have been able to do that anyway.

It does add some flexibility under the 2nd apron - which opens up the taxpayer mid level and allows you to aggregate outgoing salary in a trades without taking back more money.

Might not make a big difference in terms of landing a 2nd star to team with Brunson, but it does in keeping a 9-10 man rotation and improving in the margins.

I just read Keith Smiths article on Spotrac. The real opportunity for NY is if Randle leaves and Bridges contract comes in starting around $45mm in year 1, NY would have 40mm in space for 7 players - Anonoby, Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Kolek, Dotiet, 2026 1st. This is likely the improvement inflection point where I can see NY flipping Anunoby to recoup some of the draft capital they surrendered for Bridges while opening up a max slot

Yeah maybe. Tax payer mid level really won’t help much, aggregating hard caps them. They are still so close to that 2nd apron that there isn’t much room to do anything meaningful. Letting Randle and OG come of the books for 2/3 of a max slot seems like a net negative. I mean there is a path where they could get better but it’s not the likely outcome. It really just saves the Knicks money. Which is meaningful for the owners. I just don’t see why Brunson talked himself into this.

Assuming they sign Precious to the same 2 year, $16MM deal that Martin/Okougie just signed and add someone on a 1+1 with the full taxpayer MLE, NY should be in position to aggregative up to $15.3MM at the deadline (Precious + TMLE + MIN) or just shy of $16MM next summer. Throw in Mitchell Robinson instead of Precious and your can bring back real money.

I haven't run the full numbers but Brunson's $11ish MM discount could result in trading for a starting center and adding a dependable 8th man next summer.

Also - not resigning Randle would get you to 2/3 of MAX. Flipping Anunoby for picks puts you in a similar position to Philly this past summer. It's just optionality, which is good to have because who knows what this team and league landscape looks like in 24 months from now.

So there is more than just saving money here. These aprons were designed to even the playing field for big money owners who didn't care about the money. You can say a lot of negative things about James Dolan, most of them deserved, but spending money on the team has never been an issue.