It’s the question of the day, the week, and perhaps the entire offseason — and, fittingly, the lights went out and the fire alarm blared at the Knicks‘ Tarrytown practice facility to conclude Media Day on Monday.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Miles McBride, key contributors to the Knicks’ 2026 championship run, are each up for contract extensions entering the final years of their respective deals. And the Knicks, as reiterated by owner James Dolan in a WFAN Radio appearance days after ending the 53-year drought, are not exceeding the second apron to keep their core together.
Advertisement
Which means either someone deserving of a raise has to take a pay cut.
Or someone must go.
And soon.
All three want to be Knicks long-term. All three want a deal that reflects their contributions to the team. And in a perfect world, the franchise retains all three at full price after restoring New York City’s basketball scene to heights unseen in over 50 years.
But the world is imperfect — as imperfect as the ending to Monday’s Media Day availability, which closed with Hart in the dark after a power outage, talking through noise about playing through the season without an extension, knowing he or one of his teammates could be traded by mid-February without one.
Advertisement
“Should I answer that ? I’ll answer that,” he said Monday afternoon. “I would hope that that stuff gets done. At the end of the day, we’re humans and I think what sometimes gets lost is that we are people, that we all have lives and things that we have to deal with and fix. I wish I could sit there and say [not reaching a contract extension] wouldn’t have any weight or any bearing, but you never know.
“Some people can handle it great and some people can really struggle with it and that can kill their performance. I hope it gets done, but we’ll see.”
HART’S SITUATION
Hart is entering the final season of the four-year, $81 million deal he signed with the Knicks following his trade from the Portland Trail Blazers. (The team is unlikely to pick up the option on his final year at the current price.) He is eligible to sign a four-year extension worth $132 million, but the expectation is he and the Knicks will find a number below his max to help give New York cap flexibility to keep a championship roster together without crossing the second apron.
Advertisement
Head coach Mike Brown deferred to Knicks president Leon Rose when asked about the organization’s unwillingness to cross the second apron in any of the foreseeable seasons.
“When it comes to contracts and the second apron — if you asked me to give you two facts about the second aprons, I can’t do it. I have no interest in that. I’m not trying to punt, but it is what it is. I don’t follow that,” Brown said in Tarrytown on Monday. “Leon trusts me with the stuff on the court. And I trust him with that type of stuff. So whatever his thought is or his focus is, I’m all on board with it.”
How far beneath the max is the question facing both Hart and Towns, though McBride finds himself in a stickier spot — a raise he’s clearly earned running into a crowded backcourt, with Brunson entrenched at the point and Alvarado already added as depth. Hart said he would rather get an extension done sooner than later to not have it lingering during the regular season.
“You always want to get it done, kind of as soon as possible, obviously … because whenever there’s uncertainty, there’s gonna be a lot of questions, there’s gonna be a lot of rumors. At a human level, sometimes that can wear people down and it can affect how you go out and handle business on a day-to-day basis, just some of that uncertainty,” he said. “So obviously that’s something that you want to get done so that you don’t have to deal with that and focus on that.”
Advertisement
Hart knows the business side of things can be ugly. After all, Mitchell Robinson is now a Boston Celtic for what amounted to a 5.3% raise on the last contract he signed with the Knicks.
“We know that at the end of the day, it’s a business. You have situations like that and you never know what’s going to happen,” said Hart. “But for me, as long as I wear this jersey, I’m gonna play as hard as I can for my guys and this city and hopefully we can figure that out. But we know it’s a business.
“And we know if some of these things aren’t figured out by February, it might be a different conversation.”
TOWNS’ SITUATION
Towns is due a significant pay raise after co-steering the Knicks to their first NBA title since 1973. He triple-doubled in two of the three closeout games in a tumultuous first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, then outplayed rising star Victor Wembanyama to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.
Advertisement
Today, the bill is due for past services: Towns is eligible for a four-year extension worth $276 million. Like Jalen Brunson and Stephen Curry, he is expected to take less than the max to help keep the Knicks beneath the second apron.
Like Hart, the hiccup is how far under max a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA center is willing to go. Towns and the Knicks are reportedly “far apart” in contract extension negotiations.
“I mean, I’ve made it known I wanna play here. I’ve been a fan since I was young. So, I would like to get [a deal] done, of course,” Towns said Monday afternoon. “That’s obvious I would like to get it done so I can step on the court and feel comfortable as possible.”
Like Hart, Towns also expressed uncertainty about playing into the regular season without agreeing to an extension.
Advertisement
“I think in this situation, there is no comfortability to be had,” he said. “So that’s probably the best answer to that.”
MCBRIDE’S TIME
McBride is the third Knicks player up for a contract extension, and after earning $4 million this upcoming season, the backup guard could be in line for a pay raise netting him $15-20 million annually. That would mean at least $11 million more onto the Knicks’ books on the low end next season. While New York reached agreements with Landry Shamet (four years, $24 million) and Jose Alvarado (three years, $14.5 million), no deal has materialized with McBride, who told the Daily News he was “disappointed” by the lack of a deal and hopeful for a long-term agreement keeping him in orange and blue.
Brown said he’s not involved in keeping players locked in on the court when they have not reached a contract extension off of it.
Advertisement
“We try to talk about everything. We don’t want to leave any elephants in the room, but you know, that’s something that Leon and his group, they’ve been really good at, and some would argue they are the best in the NBA at,” the Knicks’ coach said. “And so I have a lot of faith in them and the players and the agents, whoever’s involved.
“I’m not involved in it. They’ll figure it out and our group has done a fantastic job of understanding that. We can only control what we can control.”
Brunson, the team captain and All-Star floor general who led the Knicks to their first title in more than a half-century, took a long pause when asked the question of the day — the same question the facility shut down on when Hart fielded it as the final question of Media Day.
“I feel like guys should be able to do that [play through contract negotiations]. I think we’re all professionals in that way. But, I mean,” he said, pensive, taking a long beat before speaking once again. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. See how we approach this. But I have the utmost faith in these guys.
“Well, KAT. I don’t know about Josh. We’ll see how he acts. But we’ll see.”
Comments
Advertisement