A few notes on free agency, the coaching search and the Raptors…
The Knicks are at $199,779,182 in team salary, per Yossi Gozlan’s on the capsheets.com website.
This leaves them roughly $8 million shy of the second apron and roughly $4 million over the first apron.
They can use the $5.6M taxpayer exception to sign free agents. Contracts signed with this exception can be no longer than two years and contain five percent raises. You can split the exception to sign multiple players.
If they decline PJ Tucker’s option, the Knicks could also sign-and-trade their free agents to bring back a player under contract, making up to the $5.6 million exception.
If you use the exception to sign a free agent, you are hard-capped at the second apron. This means you can’t spend more than $207.8 million in team salary. At their current team salary, the Knicks are roughly $8 million below the second apron.
The Knicks can also use the veteran’s minimum exception to sign free agents.
So, they have a couple of tools at their disposal in free agency.
Who are possible targets?
I think the Knicks will take a look at the guard market for a bench player. Also, ESPN reports that Celtics veteran Al Horford will have a robust market this offseason. I think the Knicks will also at least check in on Horford’s situation in Boston. The Celtics shed salary by trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and they certainly want Horford back, but are limited in what they can offer the veteran big man.
Just as an aside: Horford has a close relationship with Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Knicks also have to decide on Ariel Hukporti’s team option for 2025-26. (Logic says they will pick it up, unless they have a bigger move in mind that requires more financial flexibility.)
What about rookie Mohamed Diawara? The Knicks could use the second-round exception to sign him, but that would put them $1.3 million closer to the second apron. They could also sign Diawara to a two-way deal.
COACHING SEARCH
James Borrego is the fourth known interview the Knicks have conducted for their head-coaching search. Mike Brown, Taylor Jenkins and Micah Nori have also interviewed for the job. I’d be lying if I said I knew where things stood entering the weekend, but I know Brown has made a good impression during the interview process and garnered support.
The Knicks have also had interest in Billy Donovan and Jason Kidd. Donovan reportedly has agreed with the Bulls on an extension. Mavericks GM Nico Harrison said definitively on Wednesday that Kidd would be coaching in Dallas next season. I still expect the Knicks to end up with a coach with prior head-coaching experience.
SHAKEUP IN TORONTO
The Raptors parted ways with lead executive Masai Ujiri on Friday. Opposing executives have long believed that the Raptors’ new majority ownership, Rogers Communications, could make a change at the top with Ujiri. Raptors officials downplayed the possibility, with Ujiri saying in April that everything was operating normally under the new structure. Ujiri was under contract for one more season.
The speculation around his future stemmed, in part, from some previous disagreements between Ujiri and executives from Rogers. It also stemmed, in part, due to the sentiment that the Rogers ownership would be hesitant to pay Ujiri the large salary that he was earning on his current deal.
Ujiri is reportedly earning $15 million per year. The team announced that general manager Bobby Webster was given a contract extension.
The Raptors finished 30-52 last season and missed the playoffs.
“We are confident that the Raptors organization, under the guidance of Bobby and his team, is in a great place,” Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president and CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement. “They have a plan in place for next season and beyond as the team continues its rebuild, and we have confidence in their ability to execute and ultimately, to excel.”
Ujiri built the Raptors into an NBA champion (2019). He joined the Raptors in 2013 as executive vice president and general manager. He was promoted to team president in 2017 and Webster assumed GM duties.