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It’s hard to truly be a buzzkill the day before a championship parade 53 years in the making, but James Dolan really seems to be trying his hardest.
In an interview with WFAN’s Craig Carton on Wednesday afternoon, the Knicks’ owner, who had gained a nice PR boost after his 15-minute speech to the Knicks in April was leaked, said a couple of things that’ll rub people the wrong way. While one isn’t basketball-related, this one is.
This wasn’t a suggestion of any sort. It truly sounded like an edict from the man who’s cutting the checks.
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As you can find out more from our salary cap explainer, which will continuously be updated, this is major news for the Knicks’ roster building as they look to defend their championship in 2026-27. The Knicks currently have nine players rostered (including Jose Alvarado’s $4.5 million player option) and under $17 million in space beneath the second apron.
With five mandatory spots to fill and a projected veteran minimum cap hit of $2,457,000 for next season, the Knicks will only have $4.63 million extra to play with outside of exclusively using the vet min. If the Knicks make their pick at No. 24, that pick holds a $3.325 million cap hit, so it’ll be more like $3.77 million.
In essence, this essentially means that both Landry Shamet and Mitchell Robinson have likely played their last games as a Knick, if Dolan’s word is to be believed. The Knicks are legally able to retain both for their likely market value, but would have to exceed the second apron to do so. In late May, ESPN reported that both were likely to return, so this might be a case of the front office wanting one thing and ownership wanting another.
As reigning champions, the Knicks do have an advantage in that they’ll likely have veterans lining up for “ring-chasing discounts”, so they shouldn’t have a hard time reworking the bench around tight cap parameters, especially considering they’d be able to use at least part of the taxpayer mid-level exception in the scenario they do not exceed the second apron.
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If there’s any solace in this, it’s that the Knicks will have an easier time retaining rookie…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/james-dolan-reveals-knicks-not-035514588.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-18 03:55:00
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