The New York Knicks sit comfortably in the third seed of the Eastern Conference, with a record of 24-13.
The team has won nine out of the last twelve games, but with the impending deadline and the reigning champs in your conference, upgrading the team is always a priority for New York. The first apron and a roster crunch will shape the Knicks’ trade deadline plans.
Knicks president of basketball operations, Leon Rose, has always taken an aggressive approach before the trade deadlines. He acquired OG Anunoby around January last year, moving fan favorites Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett. Rose also acquired Jalen Brunson’s Villanova teammate, Josh Hart, a day before the 2023 deadline. However, with the introduction of the first and second aprons in the NBA’s ever-confusing “cap timeline,” teams have scaled back on aggressive upgrades.
Navigating the First Apron:
The Knicks entered the first apron this year. The first apron has many transactional rules that the team must follow. Using Spotrac, here are the financial challenges New York is faced with:
New York cannot acquire more salary than it takes in. For example, they cannot acquire Jakob Poeltl, who makes north of $19 million this year, for Mitchell Robinson, who makes $14.3 million this year. Luckily for New York, it is not a second apron team, so it can aggregate (add multiple players in a trade) players to acquire someone making $19 million.
New York cannot sign anyone making more than the current NTMLE (Non-tax mid-level exception). Let’s say the Knicks did not make a move at the trade deadline. Signing a player who got waived or bought out is another way to upgrade the roster. The current NTMLE is $12.8 million, so any player whose contract is above that number got waived or bought out cannot sign with the Knicks or any apron team.
New York is hard-capped at the second apron. This is the biggest problem when acquiring players for the Knicks. New York triggered the hard cap this summer when they had to facilitate sign-and-trades to acquire Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. The hard cap controls spending. When triggered, a team cannot move past it by one dollar. The Knicks now find themselves against the second apron at $187.7 million. Leon Rose and Co. is now left with approximately $500 thousand of room to work with moving forward.
Salary Matching & Roster Construction
The Knicks have multiple ways to match salaries in trades.
Some key players to watch at the deadline for the Knicks are Precious Achiuwa, Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, and Jericho Sims. Achiuwa signed a one-year deal in the off-season worth $6 million. McBride is at $4.7 million, Robinson is at $14.3 million, and Sims is at $2.1 million. The Knicks could combine these salaries and trade for a player making at least $20 million plus.
The biggest issue with salary matching is the hard cap situation. New York should not look to make three-for-one trades because they would have to find ways to fill the roster. The roster is already 14/15, so a three-for-one trade would put it at 12/15. According to ESPN insider/former GM Bobby Marks, an NBA roster can have fewer than 14 players but no more than 28 total days in the regular season and 14 consecutive days at a time.
Team Needs & Trade Targets
What are the most significant needs for the Knicks before the deadline?
The team currently ranks last in the NBA in bench scoring. New York only gets 19.9 PPG (points per game) from their bench, and they play the lowest amount of minutes at 11.9 MPG (minutes per game). New York should look at players like Utah’s Collin Sexton, Detroit’s Simone Fontecchio, and Malik Beasley. These are players who have shot well from three-point range in their career and can get easy buckets.
New York has missed the shot-blocking presence of Mitchell Robinson.
They currently average only 4.1 BPG (blocks per game), which ranks in the bottom five of the league. New York could wait for Robinson to return from the physical therapy on his foot/ankle, but Robinson has not been reliable enough to stay on the court. There are always questions about his health, and insurance at the center position is possibly needed.
Some centers in the current trade market are Jonas Valanciunas, Robert Williams III, and Nick Richards. Richards is likely the easier target for New York because of his $5 million salary. However, it is unknown how much Charlotte values him. If the price point is at least a first-round pick, New York is less likely to give that up than second-rounders.
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