Examining Knicks' Salary Cap, Decisions for 2023 NBA Free Agency after Heat Loss
The New York Knicks' season is over after the team fell 96-92 to the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Friday.
It was a tremendous year for the Knicks, who exceeded expectations and reached the second round for the first time since 2013. Acquiring Jalen Brunson turned out to be an absolute steal in free agency, and he's since developed into a bona fide star.
The Knicks also made a great midseason trade by adding wing Josh Hart, who was instrumental in pushing New York to greater heights in the back half of the year.
Now the Knicks enter their offseason in search of improving a team still looking for its first title since 1973.
On paper, that may be hard to do in free agency.
A $134 million salary cap is expected for 2023-24, with the luxury-tax threshold set at $162 million, per NBA.com.
The Knicks currently have $139.1 million committed toward the 2023-24 cap, per HoopsHype. Hart holds a $12.96 million player option, and the Knicks have team options for Derrick Rose ($15.6 million) and Miles McBride ($1.83 million).
Simply put, the Knicks don't have the cap room to bring in big-name free agents. Per ESPN's Bobby Marks, New York can use a $12 million non-taxpayer exception and the $4.5 million biannual exception.
After a tremendous close to his season, it makes sense for Hart to decline that option and look for a more lucrative long-term deal. Rose, the 2010-11 NBA MVP, fell out of the Knicks' rotation this year in favor of McBride. It seems as though New York will decline Rose's option and keep McBride aboard.
Hart fits like a glove in New York, offering much-needed intensity on the boards and defense, and he averaged over 10 points per game as well.
NBA reporter Marc Stein reported on May 5 that Hart re-signing with the Knicks appeared "inevitable" and no teams believed Hart would be "gettable" this summer. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News predicted the Knicks will re-sign Hart with a contract in the four-year, $70 million range.
As Bondy noted, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin are eligible for contract extensions off their rookie deals this offseason, but neither appears likely to agree to anything before they hit restricted free agency in 2024.
Quickley excelled as the team's sixth man and shined as a starter with 22.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, but he struggled in the playoffs. Bondy also wrote that "experts predict" that extension would hit "roughly" four years for $80-plus million, which could be a steep asking price.
As for Toppin, he's a high-energy sub who's impressed in spurts, but he averaged only 15.7 minutes per game in head coach Tom Thibodeau's rotation during the regular season.
The question is how the Knicks can improve the team in other ways via free agency.
The Heat series made it abundantly clear that the Knicks need offensive help around Brunson, who scored 41 of the team's 92 points Friday. According to Marks, Knicks bench players were 26th in scoring and 24th in three-point percentage.
Despite his playoff struggles, New York clearly missed Quickley, who sat the final three games of the Heat series with an ankle injury.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report provided three names in the Brooklyn Nets' Seth Curry, the Miami Heat's Max Strus and the Golden State Warriors' Donte DiVincenzo as potential Knicks free-agency targets. All three would provide the outside shooting and scoring that the Knicks need to help complement Brunson.
Ultimately, free agency doesn't appear to be the Knicks' best path toward improvement this year. President Leon Rose is best suited trying to figure out how the franchise can get better via trade, and it's also incumbent on the Knicks' younger players under contract to improve this offseason in hopes of getting this team to greater heights.
