9 Biggest Questions the Knicks Face This Offseason

The New York Knicks will not have much time to bask in the glow of the championship before turning their focus to the offseason. While their summer is not projected to be an incredibly action-packed or flashy one, there are still some major questions about how the roster will shape up.

Below we look at the nine biggest questions the Knicks face this offseason, from the draft to handling some key free agents to some major extensions.

1. Who will the Knicks target in the draft?

The Knicks own three picks in this year’s draft: the 24th, 31st, and 55th selections.

The Knicks under Leon Rose have been very hard to pin down at draft time: in years past they’ve traded all over the board and they’ve made some head-turning picks like Pacôme Dadiet that very few saw coming.

We won’t try to guess who the Knicks will pick, but it’s worth wondering if they’ll keep all three selections, and if so, what positions or skills they’ll target.

The Knicks, as the roster currently stands, are pretty evenly spread from a positional standpoint. From a skills standpoint, the Knicks could use a knock-down shooter (as good as players like Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet, and Miles McBride were this season, they can all be streaky shooters), a stretch big, and a springy, athletic slasher who can finish above the rim.

The Knicks are at the point where they need to start nailing some of these late picks and landing some rotation-worthy role players. This is how the best teams in the league sustain contention for years on end — miss, and it’s hard to keep the window open as players age and contract expire.

2. How much will the Knicks pay Mitchell Robinson in free agency?

Robinson is the Knicks’ biggest (in name and size) free agent this offseason. His free agency stands to be fascinating.

How do teams value an incredibly impactful player who can only play in short bursts? Robinson can absolutely swing games with his offensive rebounding, paint protection, and vertical gravity, but he was unable to play back-to-backs this year and was kept on a strict minutes limit. Given that this plan helped Robinson largely get through the season unscathed, it seems unlikely to change much going forward.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps previously reported that the expectation was that the Knicks would bring back Robinson on a two-year deal. They have his Bird Rights and can pay him anything they want (up to the max, which obviously isn’t happening). Could something like a two-year, $32 million deal convince Robinson to stay? Or can he get more on the opening market?

Between Robinson’s long Knicks tenure and the medical plan they’ve gone through together to keep him healthy, Robinson just feels like a player who will stay put. But the Knicks will need to pay to keep him from other teams.

3. How much will it cost to keep Landry Shamet in free agency?

After two seasons on minimum deals, Shamet is expected to get quite a pay raise, and he’ll likely be looking for some contractual security, too. Will a two-year deal be enough to keep Shamet, or could other teams pry him away with a three- or four-year deal?

The Knicks have Shamet’s Early Bird Rights, meaning they can pay him up to 105% of the league average salary, which is about $14 million. Would a two-year, $16 million deal be enough to keep Shamet?

4. Will the Knicks re-sign Jordan Clarkson’s free agency?

Clarkson had an interesting season with the Knicks: he began the year in the rotation playing his usual volume bench scorer role. However, he eventually fell out of Mike Brown’s rotation. Clarkson later emerged a different player: a hustle guard who full-court pressed, hounded opponents on defense, and grabbed offensive rebounds.

That kind of sacrifice made Clarkson valuable to the locker room. He seems like a good veteran presence to keep around, but it’s unclear what he’ll be looking for in free agency.

The guess here is that the Knicks would like Clarkson back, but aren’t going to spend big money to keep him, either.

5. How much will it cost to keep Mohamed Diawara?

Diawara is also a free agent and has put the Knicks in an interesting dilemma. Diawara is a restricted free agent, but the Knicks are limited in how much they can offer him. The question is whether Diawara showed enough in brief glimpses to convince another team to outbid the Knicks.

Diawara has all the qualities of what teams are looking for: he is a tall, long, smooth wing with a decent three-point shot, solid handle, natural floor vision, and plenty of potential on defense. There were times in the regular season where Diawara was a legitimate difference-maker and looked the part of a future rotation player.

Of course, those moments happened in limited minutes, and he is still something of an unknown quantity. Will an opposing team really force the Knicks to match a deal worth, say, $6 million per season? Would they go higher?

It’s a bet that could pay off if Diawara reaches his ceiling. It also could end up a major mistake if Diawara isn’t much more than a 10th or 11th man on a good NBA team.

6. Will Jose Alvarado pick up his player option?

Alvarado has a player option worth $4.5 million for next season. That seems like a fair number for a backup point guard who was out of the Knicks’ rotation for a stretch of time. Would Alvarado do much better on the open market? The Athletic’s John Hollinger thinks so, arguing Alvarado’s value is closer to $10 million, based on his estimated player value formula.

One option for Alvarado is to pick up his player option and sign an extension off of it, giving him more money and years. But with the extension situations we’ll discuss below, this could become tricky for the Knicks…

7. Will Karl-Anthony Towns sign a contract extension?

In some ways, this could be the biggest subplot of the Knicks’ offseason. Towns is under contract next season for $57 million. He has a player option for $61 million in 2027-28, and he will be a free agent after that.

Towns was technically extension-eligible last offseason, but he and the Knicks did not agree to a deal.

A max extension for Towns would come in around for years, $272 million (if he declines his player option) or three years, $208 million if Towns picks up his option, per ESPN. As well as Towns played this postseason, those are enormous numbers.

Towns is 30 years old and turns 31 next November. A four-year extension would take him into his mid-30s. There were already questions this season when Towns struggled over whether he had lost a step. It’s not crazy to think that Towns will begin to decline in the next two or three seasons.

Of course, Towns’ postseason performance also showed how important and valuable he is to the Knicks. When Towns is playing to his full potential, the Knicks go from good to great.

Keep in mind, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and OG Anunoby have all taken less than their max deals to stay with the Knicks. Will Towns give some money back to help the Knicks finances? If not, Towns could technically be in a contract year next season.

8. Will the Knicks give Miles McBride a contract extension?

McBride’s current deal is one of the best values in the NBA: he’s set to make just $3.9 million next season.

McBride can extend for up to 140% of the average NBA salary. If the average salary is $14 million, that would put McBride at a starting salary of $19.6 million.

That is probably too high for McBride, but he is still a high-level shooter and defender, and there is a lot of ground to cover between $4 million per year to $19 million. A McBride extension could net out at something like (estimating) four years, $50 million.

Between a McBride extension, the starting five’s salaries, and new deals for Robinson and Shamet, the Knicks could become overwhelmingly expensive in the next two years. It is worth it to pay for a championship team, but the Knicks would have just a season or two before they’d have to start stripping away some salary.

The Knicks don’t have to extend McBride now, but there is the chance that he performs better next season and cashes in as a free agent in 2027.

9. Are bench additions available in free agency?

The Knicks will be limited to using the veteran’s minimum in free agency. But as seen with Shamet and Clarkson, that can still net a team an impactful player.

Even if the Knicks were to retain Robinson, Shamet, Clarkson, Alvarado, and Diawara, it seems likely that they would still target an outside veteran to bolster the bench. Can they get a shooter? A backup big man? An experienced wing to give them more size off the bench?

The Knicks will be priced out of the most exciting role players, but some possible veteran’s minimum candidates who fit these needs include Nic Batum, Thomas Bryant, Amir Coffey, Larry Nance Jr., and Seth Curry.

If the Knicks lose multiple members of their bench, they may be signing several free agents to replenish their depth.

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