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Contract extension talks between Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks are paused. New York management hit that pause button, and while it surprised Towns and he doesn’t necessarily love it, he also wants to focus on the season and the Knicks’ quest to repeat.
However, one piece of drama remains before the season starts: The Oct. 19 deadline for Karl-Anthony Towns to pick up his $61 million player option for next season. Here is what that means:
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• If he declines the option, Towns will be in the final year of his contract (making $57.1 million this season) and would become an unrestricted free agent next summer without an extension.
• If he picks up the option, he will be under contract for $61 million for the 2027-28 NBA season and cannot negotiate an extension with the Knicks until after the season.
Towns will likely decline the option, allowing him and his agents to continue negotiating with the Knicks this season once New York management decides to (quietly) reopen those talks. The risk there for the Knicks is that without an extension, Towns can walk out the door for nothing as a free agent next summer.
If he picks up the option and locks himself into the $61 million for next season, it almost unquestionably puts the Knicks into the second apron in a year, a line owner James Dolan said would be “suicidal” to cross, and it would force New York to consider trading him, either at the deadline or in the offseason.
Towns doesn’t want to leave New York, and it wants to keep him. As always, it’s a question of money, but in the NBA, money = respect, so more emotion is tied to it. Towns feels he’s earned that respect after two monster seasons with the Knicks and helping the team win its first title in 53 years.
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Towns, 30, is eligible for a four-year, $276 million contract extension, coming off an All-Star season in which he averaged 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per game while being central to their title run. Towns has been clear: He will take a discount off the max to stay in New York. The Knicks reportedly have offered four years, $200 million, or an average of $50 million per season. Towns…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/whats-next-karl-anthony-towns-161308889.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-13 16:13:00
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