The New York Knicks entered this offseason not having a ton of cap space, but they were still able to complete two key depth signings in Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele. They were able to get Clarkson on a contract for the veteran’s minimum, and Yabusele signed for two years and $12 million.
The Knicks may need to make a trade to avoid the second apron
What’s next for them remains to be seen, as now they are at the dreaded second apron of the CBA. The second apron presents a ton of challenges for teams, as it completely hard-caps them from adding to the roster without subtracting key pieces.
SNY’s Ian Begley hinted at the possibility of the Knicks completing a trade to relieve some salary and avoid the second apron.
“According to Yossi Gozlan of the Third Apron podcast, the Knicks would be slightly over the second apron ($207.8 million) if they added a veteran to the roster,” Begley wrote. “I believe the Knicks do want to add another veteran free agent. To do so, they’d need to sign a player to a rookie free agent deal and trim around $36,000 in team salary. This theoretically can be done if Yabusele takes slightly less than the full taxpayer midlevel exception. If Yabusele has the full midlevel, the Knicks would need to shed salary via trade to get under the second apron.”
The Knicks have a couple of contract situations to work out with Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson. It would be almost too difficult to extend both of them without going over the second apron, though it wouldn’t be impossible if they were to move on from Josh Hart’s $80 million contract.
Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson would be among the players to look for a trade partner for
The rationale for trading Hart would be his fit with the starters, as he was the odd man out in the offense. He could move back to the bench if he is still on the roster, but then there would be an argument to use the funds from his contract to relieve some cap space.
However, if the Knicks were to make a trade, looking for offers out of Robinson would perhaps be the smarter move, especially following the Yabusele addition. Robinson is one of the team’s most impactful pieces when he is healthy, but the lack of health has been a real problem for him throughout his career.
He missed the first 58 games of the regular season recovering from offseason ankle surgery, and didn’t appear in both games of back-to-backs. He did stay healthy during the postseason, and the impact he had on the court certainly raised what seemed to be once irreversible value.
The Knicks could consider selling high on Robinson while he has some value and get some draft assets and salary relief in return. New York has done everything they can to avoid being hard-capped by the second apron, and they will want to continue that trend in a time where they have a legit chance to win a title.
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