Knicks Not Close On ANY Contract Extensions

The New York Knicks, uh, world champions, riding the wave.

Jalen Brunson, SNL, uh, Carn Lee Towns gets married in the offseason.

They're all over the place.

They're having themselves a great summer, and now we are back .

Training camp has begun.

The Knicks are beginning the I, I would say impossible task in modern days to, uh, repeat as champions, 8 consecutive new champions in the NBA.

Now the Knicks start down the path of trying to, um, trying to break that trend.

Uh, we've seen some reporting this week that the Knicks, uh, may just not extend anybody this offseason.

They've got a handful of guys that can be extended at the offseason's done, man.

I know.

Well, I guess in training camp, your chance to do that is over, yeah, I guess in training camp, like this before the real games start, and it doesn't sound like they're going to do that.

Karl Anthony Towns, the most notable player on that list, and a player option for next year.

Josh Hart obviously on that list, a big part of what they do.

Um, we, we were kind of just talking about the, the.

Danger of chemistry issues in Detroit and Jalen Duurran did his best to, you know, smack that down.

Um, what about New York?

Like, is this a thing?

Like, is this something we're gonna be monitoring during the season of, of Kat who again does have another year on his contract.

It's not like he's going into a walk year and that contract is 61 freaking million dollars, so he's fine.

Not gonna be not passing the hat for Kat right now, that's for sure, um, but Josh Hart's kind of part of the fabric of, of what they do, like how, uh, How, how risky is this, I guess, for the Knicks to, um, to take this stance?

I mean, Josh Hart came out and said it.

He said, you know, it's fine at the beginning.

It gets to the, what, what did you say?

It gets to the trade deadline and it starts to be a distraction.

Um, I'm sure you can pull the exact quote, but he made it clear that, you know, getting to the end of the season unextended was not something he was going to be excited about.

And look, they're, they're rolling the dice here.

I, I guess my.

My question to you, Chris, is, do you think that Jim Dolan saying, I absolutely will not go into the second apron is a money cheapness thing?

Do you think it's a principal thing?

Because the whole reason we haven't had a repeat champion in 8 years is because the CBA has been increasingly designed so that we don't have one.

We have gotten closer and closer to a hard cap.

It is the thing the players.

The Association has fought against.

The owners have put in different kinds of rules, so it's a hard cap without saying it's a hard cap.

It's harder to trade guys because you have to match contracts in a different way than you did even two years ago.

So there are a lot of CBA limitations that prevent a team from repeating , and the owner has just put an extra one on.

And I'm curious why you think that is, because that feeds back into why these contracts haven't been done.

I don't think.

I don't think Dolan is cheap.

I mean, I, I think it's not the impression.

It's not the impression I've gotten over the years.

Now he's smartly, but no, he's splurged it on ridiculous things, not the least of which has been front office executives that don't know how to be executives and, you know, maybe some coaches that didn't work.

He's not been afraid to, to, excuse me, open up his, his wallet, um.

I, I would have liked to have seen them spend them at least this summer, like spend the money to spend to get Mitchell Robinson back because Mitchell Robinson is like he's like, he's like a lifelong Nick, you know, and he, he's a big part of not just what they do on the floor, but he's part of that locker room and you're not spending on him to me was like, well, what are you doing here?

Like why not go into the second apron for, for him now I, I think there's There's some advantages to, um, just waiting and kind of pumping the brakes.

I think more teams kind of should do some of this because look, if Carl Towns has a great year, you know, he, he can still give him the most money.

Like you can still bring him back and wind up overspending next summer.

Like if you gotta overspend on, not overspend, but you've got to spend all your money on Jalen Burson.

You're gotta do that regardless, right?

So I, I don't just saying there's, there's only so much money if you say I'm not going into the second apron no matter what.

Yeah, I, I, well, yeah, I mean, I guess that, if that, I, I'd like to know if that's a moving target or if, if that's just, he's just saying that in this instance, as it connects to Mitchell Robinson or when it comes to one of the top 5 guys, maybe one of the top 2 guys that you, you move the goalpost a little bit.

I think I'm more likely to believe that that is gonna be the case.

Look, I don't, I don't mind, again, I don't mind drawing a line in the sand with, with Kat here, um, and because I, I think if, if, if what he wants is Close to where you might have to pay him anyway if he has another tremendous season, then what's the danger necessarily of letting this whole thing play out?

Like, I mean, I guess that's the question though, like how, how difficult does it get when your superstar, your starting center, your, your championship level guy.

Uh, doesn't feel the love, right?

Like this isn't feeling it, and, and there's been, you know, he's had ups and downs over his career in terms of dynamics and things like that, and, and that was a big finding him finding his fit with this team was the key that unlocked a championship for them.

Absolutely Jalen Brunson was their best player, but Karl-Anthony Towns and the way he played and the change in the way he played.

That is what unlocked this title.

And so, if he feels that he is not getting the respect or the attention or any of the things that he might feel that he wants, and maybe he doesn't.

Look, maybe he feels like, hey, man, I got a title.

I've got a lot of money, to your point.

I'm gonna get more money and it's gonna be OK.

So we don't know.

He hasn't come out and said, I'm unhappy.

But that is a situation.

I would be careful about playing with fire.

I would be careful about playing with fire with Josh Hart.

I understand that Josh Hart is more valuable to the Knicks than he is to anyone else.

And so, therefore, there might be a tendency to say, yeah, we let Karl-Anthony Towns on the open market.

People are gonna max him out.

We gotta be careful about that and try to convince him to take less than he could get on the open market.

With Josh Hart, there might be a tendency to say, oh, well, he's not as valuable to anyone else as he is to us.

I guess so, but it's a little Of the Draymond Green principle with the Golden State Warriors.

If he is the guy who makes your main guy go, if he is a multiplier for your main guy, and I really believe that Josh Hart is a multiplier for Jalen Brunson, both on and off the court, that is a value that you pay for.

And it doesn't really matter if he's not as valuable to other teams.

I think that everybody on this Knicks team needs to take a minute and, and evaluate for themselves.

Do I take a little less money so I can stay part of the.

Group and have a chance of winning and how much do titles mean to me.

I'm not saying the Knicks have to max out everyone.

That's not realistic.

But I do think that letting this drag over time, it is playing with fire to a degree, to a degree that I don't understand.

How many times, Chris, and I really want you to, I, I, I'm curious about this.

How many times in the last 57 years have we seen an owner who has a championship in his hand, not do everything he can.

To continue that to the next year.

I can count several, and I don't understand it.

You're never gonna get closer than you are now, and you have the guys right now who caught lightning in a bottle.

Why not reinvest in them in the same way?

And we've seen multiple owners cheap out or make decisions that don't bring back the guys that they should.

Oh, Denver certainly is Denver.

The Lakers didn't bring back every, I mean, you that 2021, what, what team Caruso go that year , the bubble.

The bubble year in 2020 and then you know that that Caruso wasn't about it .

They should have paid Caruso.

They didn't, he wasn't making that much money in that contract .

Taylin Horton Tucker, I believe, was the guy they kept instead, and I believe he's not making the roster this year.

I just saw a report about one out for THD.

I mean, look, we have just seen it over and over and over again.

I remember standing in the Boston Celtics' locker room as they were celebrating their title, and Wick turned to me, then the owner at the time, and he said, I'm bringing everyone back, and I'm like, You're on camera.

You know how expensive this is gonna be.

And he goes, yep, I'm doing it.

You don't waste this.

And I was so thrilled to hear him say that.

And we just haven't seen that from every owner.

And you know, I've told this story a bunch of times that, you know, I watched the Cleveland Cavaliers win a title in 2016, and then not do everything they could to keep winning in the subsequent years after that, especially after Kyrie asked out, and it didn't make sense to me.

You have LeBron James, you have a championship team in its prime.

Why aren't you doing everything to win now?

Why are you holding back for the future?

In that case, it was, quote, In case LeBron leaves again.

Didn't make sense to me.

Doesn't make sense to me right now.

Why put stipulations on yourself?

Why put a cap on yourself with this Knicks roster when you can bring them back?

I, I just don't get it.

Well, I, yeah, well, that, that's basically Robinson, right?

They're like they are bringing everybody back besides Robinson at this point, and again, I don't, I don't fault them.

I don't fault them for not, are you bringing back 100% of Carl Anthony Towns?

Are you bringing back 100% of Josh Hart ?

The heart, well, Towns is one thing, and that's, that's got a, that's got a team option next season.

So like the Knicks have some leverage there.

Um, they can go to Josh Hart and say, all right, well this again to bring Oklahoma City that they did this all the time, we'll say we'll.

Decline your option.

Give you more money over the long term, but it's gotta be at a team-friendly salary.

Like they've got a lot of leverage.

The one guy I'm actually more concerned with is Deuce McBride.

Like he's in the expiring deal and he's a big part of their bench, um.

If he has a great year, he is gonna be way out of their price range, way, way out of their price.

Right now, he makes like 4 million bucks.

He's gonna be way out of their price range.

Like that's a guy I would wanna work hard to get on a long-term deal that makes sense.

Like, it's like what Boston did with Peyton Pritchard back when they Gave Peyton Pritchard, which, what is now like the greatest contract in the NBA in terms of value for dollar.

Um, like that's the kind of thing that the Knicks should be looking to deal with , with Deuce McBride.

Like I, you lose a guy like that, not getting him on a team-friendly contract long term, that's a problem.

But with Josh Hart, you've got, you've kind of got him a little bit.

Like you, you, you're gonna pay him $22 million which is good money.

Um, obviously, he wants more, wants long-term money, but you've got an advantage there in Towns.

Um , yeah, it could get dicey if he, if he handles it a certain way, but I, I kinda wanna see how it plays out this year if I'm the Knicks before I commit $200 million to Carl Towns.

I, I don't know.

Well, here's, I looked up the Josh Hart quote because I wanted it exactly.

You don't want contract extension talks trickling into the season because whenever there's uncertainty, there's going to be a lot of questions.

We know it's a business.

We know if some of the things aren't figured out by February.

It might be a different conversation .

And I thought matching that quote up to what Stephen Cassel told GQ what Stefan Cassel told GQ when he was like, basically, we got beaten by the power of friendship.

I mean, he was like, team chemistry is what beat us, that kind of thing.

This is so delicate with this Knicks team.

You absolutely, Lamrose has put a fantastic X and O team out there together.

Mike Brown did a great job coaching them, but it's undenia.

Undeniable that the way they function together, the chemistry that they had in that locker room, the way they would go after every single ball for each other, dive on the floor, bleed for each other, is one of the , like, biggest parts of what set them on such a roll through these playoffs.

And I just think you're playing with fire.

And again, I don't want to be Pollyanna about this.

I know you can't pay everyone everything all the time.

I get that.

But I just don't understand.

A limit on yourself.

I know the rules have changed, so it is limiting.

And to your point about Oklahoma City, you can have a great team and, and be a rich man and still have diamonds fall out of your pocket because you just, you know, the pocket's only so big.

But I, I don't understand why you're making your own pocket smaller if you're Jim Dolan.

And maybe it's just a timing thing to your point.

Maybe they want to see how things play out.

Maybe Dolan's playing the bad guy, um, but I, I just, I am, I, I think that they are playing with fire here, and I am very curious as to why, because it is so delicate, especially if you're a team that had waited so long, more than 50 years to get back to this moment.

Why mess with it?

I think the, it is delicate, but the why is that it is a very small needle to thread to be able to keep the entire team together.

Like if they just cave and go to town to be like, all right , you know, here's what, no, no, I don't think it to you.

I don't think you're then you're peeling off McHale Bridges in a year.

Like, no, no, I don't, I don't think they should do that , and you and I talked about this two weeks ago.

I absolutely think that guys like Karl-Anthony Towns who have been around the block, who have been on different teams, who know what it's like to be on a team where the vibes are bad, where there isn't a lot of hope, need to understand and take into account.

And by the way, Carl is so.

Smart.

I have faith that he will do this.

Take into account, what am I getting out of this contract?

Part of what I'm getting isn't just money.

It's the chance to win the title.

It's the chance to play in New York near where I grew up, all of those things.

I'm not saying pay Carl the max everything.

But I do think that I, I don't know.

Do, do you feel that they could be doing more now, or you would wait, you would do.

Exactly what they're doing and wait.

I, I, I'm not privy to the, the inner workings of these talks.

I don't know how big the gap is between what they want to give and what Towns wants and what Josh Hart wants.

Um, I think you want to keep it as friendly as you possibly can.

I know it's hard to do in a situation like this.

I don't think you want to let these guys know that we are committed to you.

Um, we, again, we just gotta figure this out because we can't get to 2027.

And sign you guys and all of a sudden OGiannanobi is gonna go play for the, you know, Brooklyn Nets, you know, it's, it's just this, this apron era has, has made it so tough, so tough to keep teams like if you, if you refuse to even go into one of them.

Yeah, well, well, yeah, but I mean McBride to me is, is.

Maybe I keep going back.

You know, he's the guy you got to, he's the guy you gotta figure out the most .

Like everybody else has theoretically had a contract for the 27, 28 season, right?

Like Towns probably opts out and gets himself a big deal one way or the other, but you have control over Josh Hart.

You have no control over Deuce McBride, and that to me is, is the guy that, um, that you gotta watch.