The New York Knicks will have rooftop space. The only question is how much.
If they go into full house cleaning mode by turning down Bobby Portis’ $ 15.7 million team option and cutting the bait with every penny of non-essential unsecured salary (thus, everyone is except Mitchell Robinson), they can free up to $ 42 million. Only the Atlanta Hawks have the ability to increase spending power, and only barely.
That said, unless the outdated “it’s a big market, it’s the Mecca of basketball, it’s the Knicks”, the sales pitches somehow regain their charm, the outlets are scarce here.
The Knicks are under new management with Leon Rose as team president, and new manager Tom Thibodeau will once again try to prove that his old-school approach still works in the modern game. Rose, a former agent, has contacts, which can help. But Thibodeau is the exact opposite of a free-agent draw, according to a 2019 player survey that ranked him, by far, the manager that players least wanted to play for.
From the point of view of talent, New York is missing. Robinson is intriguing, but RJ Barrett had a brutal rookie year, and … that’s pretty much it. Any free agent considering New York will find no high-level help on the pitch, a long-standing culture of defeat and mismanagement, and a coach with less appeal (according to the players) than any other.