The Knicks‘ front office would prefer to operate above the second tax apron in 2026/27 if it allows the team to avoid losing key role players, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. However, team owner James Dolan doesn’t share that view, having made it clear that he adamantly opposes being a second-apron team — and so far he hasn’t changed his mind, according to Katz.
Due to their existing salary commitments and the additional salaries they’ll need to take on to fill out the rest of their roster, the Knicks will almost certainly be a first-apron team going forward, which carries its own set of roster-building restrictions, including not being able to acquire a player via sign-and-trade, not having access to the bi-annual exception, only being able to use the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception (approximately $6MM next season), not being able to take back more than 100% of outgoing players’ salaries in a trade, and not being able to use trade exceptions generated during the previous season.
A team operating above the second apron faces most of those same restrictions in addition to not being able to use any portion of the mid-level exception, not being able to aggregate player salaries in a trade, not being able to send out cash in a trade, and not being able to take back salary using a signed-and-traded player for matching purposes.
However, there’s nothing stopping second-apron teams from re-signing their own free agents using various forms of Bird rights. As Katz outlines, if they insist on staying below the second apron, the Knicks will almost certainly lose reserve center Mitchell Robinson, assuming he’s not willing to accept a very team-friendly deal to return. It would also likely be tricky for the club to bring back more than one of Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado.
While it makes sense for certain teams to want to avoid the second apron, the Knicks are coming off a title and losing some of the players who played important roles in the NBA Finals run would arguably hurt their chances of repeating as champions more than the second-apron restrictions would. According to Katz, it’s unclear if Dolan is using a “one-size-fits-all logic” in his approach to the second apron or if he’s reluctant to pay a far more significant tax bill to keep the roster intact.
For what it’s worth, during the radio appearance in which Dolan laid out his approach to the aprons, he stated, “I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check that goes into the second apron.”
We have more on the Knicks:
- Within a story about the Knicks’ apron situation, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required) cites sources who say the Knicks are still optimistic about Pacome Dadiet‘s potential even though he has barely played during his first two seasons. The 2024 first-round pick has logged 247 total minutes across 47 regular season outings since joining the team.
- German guard Jack Kayil indicated after being selected by the Knicks on Wednesday that he’s not interested in spending the 2026/27 season as a draft-and-stash prospect, according to Michael Blinn of The New York Post. “My plans are to stay here and get into the organization and keep going with them,” Kayil told reporters. Signing Kayil to a contract that starts at the rookie minimum could be a step toward helping New York manage its cap situation.
- Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose hardly ever speaks publicly, but he made an exception this week to appear on the Roommates Show podcast (YouTube link) with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. Jared Schwartz of The New York Post shares some of the highlights from that podcast appearance, including Rose’s thoughts on last year’s coaching change, the importance of the mid-season Alvarado addition, and why it bothered him that so much criticism was aimed at Mikal Bridges.
