The Three Biggest Remaining Questions for Knicks This Offseason

The New York Knicks have entered a bit of a lull in the offseason. While lots of business around the league waits on LeBron James’ free agency decision, the Knicks have dutifully taken care of their own business.

As a result, New York has only one more roster spot to figure out while dodging the second apron. For now, that means the Knicks are likely to only make some small moves to fill out the roster.

Still, there are some remaining questions hanging over the Knicks as July nears an end and we enter August, which is typically the quietest month of the NBA calendar.

Here’s a look at the biggest remaining questions facing the Knicks.

1. Who will be the Knicks' third-string center?

By far the most pressing question facing the Knicks is who they’ll add as a third-string center. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond are currently the only centers on the roster.

There is quite a steep drop-off from Towns to Drummond, and the Knicks will need to find a quality third-stringer to have around in case one of their big men gets hurt. Ariel Hukporti previously occupied that role, but he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency.

The Knicks signed Dallas Mavericks second-year center Moussa Cisse to an offer sheet in hopes of luring the promising youngster away, but the Mavs matched the offer sheet.

How the Knicks plan to approach this roster spot remains a bit of a mystery. A few semi-interesting names remain in free agency: Nick Richards, Kelly Olynyk, Maxi Kleber, Christian Koloko, to name a few. All of these players could make decent third-string, break-in-case-of-emergency options, but it also feels like the Knicks would have signed them by now if this was the direction they wanted to go.

It seems as if the Knicks are exploring more creative paths. Could a trade be brewing?

2. Could the Knicks trade one of their deep-bench youngsters?

Two current Knicks with fascinating futures are Pacome Dadiet and Tyler Kolek.

At the moment, both are likely outside of a 10-man rotation and both face pretty tough paths to consistent playing time.

For Kolek, it’s going to be hard to get major minutes with Brunson and a steady backup in Jose Alvarado on the team. Throw in Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, and Jordan Clarkson, and it’s hard to see Kolek getting minutes at either guard spot barring injuries or serious slumps from the players ahead of him.

Dadiet is in a similar boat as a forward. One or two of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart are almost always going to be on the court. Mohamed Diawara looks set for a slightly expanded role this season, now that he’s locked into a four-year contract. That leaves little room for the 6-foot-7 Dadiet, who has barely gotten off the bench ever since playing surprise minutes to start his rookie season.

For the Knicks, Kolek and Dadiet are great emergency options as 11th or 12th men on the roster. But it would be understandable if Kolek and Dadiet themselves want more consistent roles and playing time as they head into pivotal third seasons in the NBA.

It’s worth wondering if either could be put into a trade to either free up money, land an extra asset, or land a player at a position the Knicks need — i.e. a third-string center. Dadiet and Kolek both make under $3 million, so in a world where the Knicks need to send out more money than they take in in a deal, neither player is a great trade asset.

That said, they could be traded together to make a $5.2 million trade package, or packaged with another player on a bigger salary, to make a larger deal if there is a really enticing target available.

It’s unclear if either Dadiet or Kolek want to be traded, but they both currently seem like victims of positional logjams and it could benefit all parties if the right trade is available. This Knicks front office has also historically tried to take care of their players by sending them to good teams where they can flourish.

3. Will Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, or Miles McBride get extensions?

All three players above are eligible for extensions, at likely very different numbers— who gets one, and for how much and how long, will be very revealing.

It will be impossible to keep this core together without leaping over the second apron, which the Knicks have avoided this season.

Towns is set to make $57 million this coming season and has a player option worth $61 million in 2027-28. Towns can sign a max extension of four years, $272 million (if he declines his player option) or three years, $208 million if Towns picks up his option, per ESPN.

Those are massive numbers, especially for a big man that will be entering his mid-30s during that extension.

It’s worth wondering if the precedent of “taking less” on the Knicks will impact Towns’ negotiations. Brunson took his max in 2024 when he signed his $156 million extension, but he did so a year before he was eligible—and almost certainly would have gotten—a $269 million contract.

Anunoby took a five-year deal with the Knicks at a rate below his max (but with a year more than any other team could offer) and Bridges took $6 million less than his own max last year. Will Towns do the same?

Meanwhile, McBride and Hart are seemingly two divergent extension cases.

Hart is set to make $20.9 million this season, with a team option worth $22 million in 2027-28. Hart is a tricky extension case.

He is extremely valuable to the Knicks both on the court and in the locker room. He provides skills and intangibles that no one else brings, and he is the franchise star’s best friend. He is also arguably the most flawed player of the Knicks’ top five, and he is a physical, slightly undersized wing who will be entering his mid-30s during a long-term extension.

Even still, Hart’s play and impact has not slipped in some way that suggests he should be taking less.

Hart previously did the Knicks a favor by opting into a below-market player option in 2023, then extending off of that. Would Hart take considerably less on an extension to remain with the Knicks? Would he take an extension that starts around that $22 million number and declines each season, as the rest of the team becomes more expensive?

Hart has previously joked on his podcast that he will stick around in the NBA, in a rising salary-cap environment, so that he can enjoy veteran’s minimum deals worth $6 million per season. Hart was being facetious, of course, but the comments do seemingly indicate a certain mentality; he is just happy to get paid and doesn’t seem terribly worried about squeezing every dollar he can.

Meanwhile, McBride’s current three-year, $13 million deal is one of the best steals in the NBA; he is making just $3.9 million this season. McBride is not a perfect player, but he has out-performed that deal and likely isn’t going to give the Knicks another discount.

McBride can look at contracts for players like Ayo Dosunmu ($112 million), Coby White ($74 million), Gary Trent Jr. ($64 million, if it stands), and Quentin Grimes ($60 million) and argue that he should be somewhere in their range. If the Knicks keep their starting five together, will there be money available to keep McBride at eight figures per season?

The NBA’s current CBA is designed to break teams up. The Knicks just let Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency to avoid the second apron. While it’s extremely hard to imagine the Knicks breaking up their core, it may become untenable to keep all of these players under long-term, market-value deals.

Add us as a preferred source on Google