Devin Booker has already signed a maximum-salary extension with the Suns, and Karl-Anthony Towns is discussing a similar deal with the Timberwolves, but the Knicks appear to be in no rush to lock up Kristaps Porzingis to a long-term rookie scale extension of his own. As Ian Begley of ESPN.com notes, signing Porzingis now would mean giving up about $10MM in 2019 cap room, so the team may prefer to wait until next summer to get something done with the standout big man.
“We’ll continue to stay in touch with Kristaps,” Knicks GM Scott Perry said on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “He’s part of our long-term plan. But we’ll get all that figured out at the appropriate time in terms of when we get into that negotiation. We’re comfortable with were at with him and we’ll work together with he and his representation to figure something out.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- This year’s signing of Mario Hezonja may represent a hedge against striking out on top free agents in 2019, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. As Berman explains, the Knicks would probably have to renounce Hezonja next summer in order to clear cap room for a maximum-salary free agent, but if New York doesn’t need to maximize its space, Hezonja’s Non-Bird rights should give the team the ability to make a competitive offer to retain him for one more than one season.
- Knicks president Steve Mills sounds like he doesn’t want to put all his eggs into one basket when it comes to landing a star free agent in 2019, Berman adds. “We didn’t say our ultimate goal was to have cap room in 2019 — that’s just a byproduct of the situation of how our salaries line up,” Mills said. “There’s no reason to think if Mario does really well, he shouldn’t be part of what we’re doing. Our goal is to put together a Knick team that could be competitive in the long-term.”
- Speaking of Hezonja, he said he got offers from the Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Thunder before he accepted the Knicks’ proposal, Berman writes in a separate article.
- According to GM Scott Perry, all options are still in play for Joakim Noah, whether that means trading, stretching, or keeping him, per Ian Begley and Nick Friedell. “He’s still a member of the Knicks franchise right now,” Perry said of Noah. “He’s part of this team. Like we said to you earlier, all options are on the table for us concerning him, whether it’s coming back or some sort of trade or whatever the case may be.”
- During his introductory press conference as a Pacer, Kyle O’Quinn made a comment that could be interpreted as a dig at the Knicks. “I just felt like at this point, I owed it to myself to be a part of something bigger than next year’s draft,” O’Quinn said, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News relays.
I don’t take what O’Quinn as a dig. He said it differently than most do, but he just wants a winning situation, and it’s evident to everyone, including the Knicks brass that New York isn’t going to be overly competitive this year.
He’s not wrong either. It seems like New York is almost content where they’re at.
Knicks should hold onto the summer of 2019 cap space they currently project to have, and if they can make a move to increase it in advance, great, cap space is always valuable. But they should not value future cap space as though it’s going to be used on an elite FA. The percentage of league cap space used on elite FAs is tiny. If the Knicks do nothing else with their payroll, they’ll go into the summer of 2019 being able to open up a max slot in the event an elite FA wants to come here. Getting the balance of the needed cap space is the easy part. Knicks need to focus on the hard part, which is building a team that an elite FA would want to join.
Too true at the moment no elite FA would wanna go to the Knicks. I think all will come down to KP6, if he recovers well & re-signs it will look good, but if he doesn’t recover well (as I am afraid will happen) then all bets are off & Knicks will had wasted 3-4 years & they will have to start all over again.