Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said at the end of the sixth game and his team’s elimination that the franchise was facing a crucial preseason: “We’re going to have to make a lot of decisions that can affect our future a lot.” The elimination in the Eastern Conference finals will subject the Knicks to a deep analysis of what they want to be next season.
A defeat as hard as this can cause a deep earthquake that leads to great changes. Sometimes these changes are good and the results are achieved, but most of the time they bring with them the dreaded word: reconstruction. That’s what the Knicks want to avoid.
The New York team has a good example in the team that eliminated them. The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals last year and lost heavily to the Celtics (4-0). They did not panic, they managed to strengthen and in a few days they will play in the NBA Finals. The Knicks have reached their first conference finals since 1999. A year earlier they lost in the second round. They are getting better.
The question the Knicks management must ask themselves is whether the team has reached its peak, if there is no more. But the season offers many possibilities with the weakening of the Milwaukee Bucks and the problems of Boston without the help of Jayson Tatum. There is no prize for their third place in the East, but it shows that the team was at a high level throughout the season.
Without the Draft to improve anything (they have the 50th pick), the options for the Knicks to strengthen are through the free agent market. If they do not want to or cannot get rid of important players, they will have to do some economic engineering to sign a player and not pay too much for going over the salary cap. The core of the team is still on long-term contracts.
Many contracts in force
Karl-Anthony Towns, who was heavily criticized for his defense in Game 6, has two more years and a third player option. And this year he will earn $53 million. O.G. Anunoby has three more years and a fourth player option ($39 million in 2025-26). Jalen Brunson, untouchable for any trade, also has three years and one more (34.9 in 2025-26). Josh Hart has two more years and a third that is a team option. Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson have one year left on their contracts. They are the two pieces that the Knicks can move most easily.
Bridges is awaiting a four-year, $156 million extension, while Towns is also awaiting an extension. In New York, Bridges and especially Robinson are being talked about as the players most likely to leave. The free agents on the Knicks are: Precious Achiuwa, Cameron Payne, Delon Wright, Landry Shamet and Ariel Hukporti, and PJ Tucker, team option. Also the rookies Anton Watson, Kevin McCullar Jr. and MarJon Beauchamp.
The Antetokounmpo way
The New York Knicks are also keeping an eye on Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek will almost certainly leave the Milwaukee Bucks, but it has to be to a title contender that makes a good offer to the Bucks. According to some experts in the United States, Boston and New York top a short list of teams that could undertake such a tremendous operation.
Going for Antetokounmpo would completely change the course of the Knicks, both in terms of what they would have to give up and the way they would have to play with the arrival of the third player in the MVP voting. However, with the Greek, the Knicks would automatically become the favorites to win the championship. Now that they have been so close to experiencing an NBA Finals again, at Madison Square Garden they want to take advantage of that momentum to try again next year. It will be a very intense preseason in the offices of the New York team
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