Knicks' Second Apron Situation Isn't Just About Spending Money

Why it matters if the New York Knicks go over the second apron

Breaking down Knicks' salary cap and second apron situation. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Leave it to James Dolan to declare that he won’t go past the second apron threshold next year on the eve of the Knicks championship parade. Through the years, the one thing Dolan cannot be called is cheap. This past season, he paid out $207.5 million in salaries and an additional $45 million in luxury taxes.

Many fans are being prisoners of the moment and operating under the assumption that the team will go over the apron to run it back, which is definitely an option. It doesn’t really come down to willingness to spend, however. It comes down to the limitations that arise from being a second-apron team, and avoiding them by all means necessary.

The team-building penalties for spending into the second apron can't be underestimated

Teams above the second apron cannot aggregate salary, cannot receive or send cash in a trade, and cannot acquire a player from another team by sign-and-trading them for your own player. There’s also no taxpayer mid-level exception.

Most repercussions relate to externally adding talent, with the only tool available to fill out a roster being minimum contracts and signing your own draft picks.

If the Knicks become a second apron team, their first-round pick seven years out becomes frozen. When a team spends three out of five seasons above the second apron that first-round pick seven years out automatically falls to the end of the first round. There's also a financial component to this with the repeater tax looming in 2027-28.

Rose's front office, particularly Brock Aller, are very good at navigating this stuff. The Knicks finished the past two seasons $53,000 and $370,000 below the second apron. Dating back to the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, it seemed that a four-year plan was in place.

Duck the second apron for two years, go above it for two years, and then dip back below it before the harsh penalties hit. To extend that window flexibility is needed.

The core five can be kept together for the next three to five years if Towns, who has a player option next summer, and Josh Hart, who has a team option, are willing to take haircuts on extensions.

With that being said, there's a need for the Knicks to keep their financial options open for 2028-29, especially considering that’s when Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby need to be paid.

The question is if the Knicks should go all-in on the current core over the next two years or look to maximize Brunson’s entire prime

At some point the Knicks will have to make a financial decision or two that hurt emotionally. The first casualty could come with Mitchell Robinson leaving in free agency. There's also the possibility of Landry Shamet cashing in on his strong postseason elsewhere. Miles McBride is extension eligible and it remains to be seen if the the Knicks will pay what it takes to keep him long term.

There is an expectation that Robinson will be in line for north of what he made this past season ($12 million), which would automatically put the Knicks over the apron. Shamet has played on minimums the last two years and should garner at least TPMLE money, which is roughly $6 million. It's hard to see a world where the Knicks can duck the apron and bring both back.

Let’s say the Knicks have their starting five back plus McBride, Tyler Kolek and Jose Alvarado opts into his $4.5M option. Add in the roughly $2.5 million Mohamed Diawara just re-upped for and assume that Pacome Dadiet's $2.9 million salary is dumped. This would add up to $204,476,948 on the books with five spots to fill to meet the league mandated 14-man minimum.

The second apron for the 2026-27 season is currently projected at $221,737,000. The scenario above would leave New York with $17,260,052 to play with. That would leave enough money to re-sign either Shamet or Robison on a hometown discount in the $9 million range. Center-needy teams like the Celtics, Lakers, Hornets, Bulls or Kings can offer the long-standing Knick up to the $15 million mid-level exception.

In theory, the Knicks could go into the season above the second apron and find ways back below it later by a trade or reshuffling the roster fringes. They could play the first two weeks of the season with 12 players and then add two prorated veteran or rookie minimums. Teams are allowed 28 days in which they can carry fewer than 14 players on their roster, and no more than 14 of those days can come consecutively. 

One school of thought is that the Knicks have a championship roster in place and should do whatever it takes to keep the whole band together. James Edwards of the Athletic reported on the Katz and Shoot podcast Thursday that Dolan "blindsided" the front office with his penny -pinching mandate. But it is hard to sell the idea of going over the apron for an oft-injured big man and career journeyman.

The 28-year old Robinson got hacked off the court in the playoffs, is a historically bad free-throw shooter and is on a load management plan. Meanwhile, the sharpshooting Shamet missed serious time over the last two years due to dislocating his right shoulder twice. One more ding and he’s possibly looking at surgery.

The organization has been as competent as any when it comes to this stuff since Rose took over. That’s why they’re champions and why they deserve the fans trust.