It’s hard to truly be a buzzkill the day before a championship parade 53 years in the making, but James Dolan really seems to be trying his hardest.
In an interview with WFAN’s Craig Carton on Wednesday afternoon, the Knicks’ owner, who had gained a nice PR boost after his 15-minute speech to the Knicks in April was leaked, said a couple of things that’ll rub people the wrong way. While one isn’t basketball-related, this one is.
This wasn’t a suggestion of any sort. It truly sounded like an edict from the man who’s cutting the checks.
As you can find out more from our salary cap explainer, which will continuously be updated, this is major news for the Knicks’ roster building as they look to defend their championship in 2026-27. The Knicks currently have nine players rostered (including Jose Alvarado’s $4.5 million player option) and under $17 million in space beneath the second apron.
With five mandatory spots to fill and a projected veteran minimum cap hit of $2,457,000 for next season, the Knicks will only have $4.63 million extra to play with outside of exclusively using the vet min. If the Knicks make their pick at No. 24, that pick holds a $3.325 million cap hit, so it’ll be more like $3.77 million.
In essence, this essentially means that both Landry Shamet and Mitchell Robinson have likely played their last games as a Knick, if Dolan’s word is to be believed. The Knicks are legally able to retain both for their likely market value, but would have to exceed the second apron to do so. In late May, ESPN reported that both were likely to return, so this might be a case of the front office wanting one thing and ownership wanting another.
As reigning champions, the Knicks do have an advantage in that they’ll likely have veterans lining up for “ring-chasing discounts”, so they shouldn’t have a hard time reworking the bench around tight cap parameters, especially considering they’d be able to use at least part of the taxpayer mid-level exception in the scenario they do not exceed the second apron.
If there’s any solace in this, it’s that the Knicks will have an easier time retaining rookie wing Mo Diawara, who will be a restricted free agent. Due to the weird circumstances surrounding his contract, the Knicks are legally able to match any offer sheet, but they would have to dip into their MLE to do so, which would trigger a second apron hard cap.
This means that, if someone (ahem, Brooklyn) offered Diawara a big enough deal that he would sign an offer sheet, the Knicks would have to choose between him and retaining other key free agents to exceed the second apron. Now, it’s entirely possible that NBA teams don’t view his potential in the way we’re all drooling over and he re-signs on an effective vet min, but it’s a possibility that needs to be accounted for.
Ultimately, despite it coming from the man in charge, I wouldn’t totally rule out the Knicks exceeding the second apron in 2026-27.
Why? I don’t exactly think Dolan has all the facts memorized about the aprons, especially considering we’ve already heard through the grapevine of the front office’s long-term plan of a four-year window since the KAT trade.
The penalties for being in the second apron for one year are as follows:
- Not able to use the MLE
- Not able to aggregate salaries in a trade
- Not able to send out cash in a trade
- Not able to utilize a sign-and-trade
- Not able to use a trade exception
- First-round draft pick in seven years (2033) is frozen and unable to be traded
The Knicks have been hard-capped at the second apron over the last two seasons because they utilized some of these. They aggregated salaries to acquire Mikal Bridges and used the mid-level exception to sign Guerschon Yabusele. That hard cap is immediately removed once the next league year begins.
So, sure, while it would suck to not be able to use the MLE, aggregate salaries in a trade, or use the 2033 pick in a trade, it would be worth it to retain a championship roster. So why is Dolan so afraid of the second apron?
If a team spends three years in the second apron in five years, the frozen draft pick is pushed to No. 30 in the draft, regardless of what record the team finishes with. As you might guess, that’s a built-in hard cap for teams because of the risk. By then, the Knicks could be in a total rebuild and wouldn’t have anything to build off of.
But the keyword is three. One year in the second apron doesn’t change that.
Is it luxury tax-related? Well, sure. If the Knicks run a payroll that high, Dolan could pay up to $90 million in luxury taxes, depending on how much the team exceeds it by. For a guy who’s paid the most luxury taxes in NBA history (including a bunch for horrendous teams), this isn’t ridiculous to keep together a champion.
But starting in 2027-28, the Knicks will be in the repeater tac, which will likely doom Dolan to spending nine figures in the luxury tax regardless of whether he’s in the second apron, but it’s not plausible for the Knicks to duck the tax this year, so this should be treated as an unfortunate inevitability.
Ultimately, we’ll know sooner than later if the head honcho’s word is bond. It would just be very hard to replicate the team’s success without paying up to retain it.
