Blog

Last night, on the eve of NBA free agency, the Knicks made their decisions on six players from their 2023-24 roster, three of them on two-way contracts.

The Knicks, not counting all of these players, had nine players on the active roster with four draft picks still pending. They need at least 14 before the season.

The first step was to pick up Jericho Sims’ team option. The veteran minimum for any player will be higher than Sims’ $2.09 million salary in 2023-24. It’s worth noting that his salary is not fully guaranteed. He is currently guaranteed $650,000. Another $650,000 is guaranteed on July 14. The remaining $790,000 is guaranteed on August 16. Brock Aller likely put that amount there to keep the Knicks flexible, even if it is minimal.

The 6’10” former big man from Texas was selected 58th overall in 2022. He has appeared in 138 games as a Knick, starting 32 of them. In 14 minutes per game, he has averaged 2.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks and assists. He has had his moments (3 career double-doubles), shown promise as an underrated perimeter defender (rare for a big man), and has bunnies like no other. Unfortunately, he ultimately failed to develop. When he was a rookie, I blasted him as a really inexperienced Mitchell Robinson. Then I looked at their ages, and he’s exactly the same age. That’s just Sims. For a deep big man, he’s OK.

The Knicks’ second move was declining the team option on DaQuan Jeffries worth $2.46 million. Jeffries, an undrafted free agent from Tulsa, played 47 games for Sacramento, Houston and Memphis before signing with the Knicks ahead of the 2022-23 season. He was released after training camp, signed a two-way contract, signed two 10-day contracts, re-signed, was released again, signed another 10-day contract and signed with that team option in late March. Jeffries played in 17 games for the Knicks, scoring just 14 points. He only cracked the 5-minute mark twice, both times in blowouts.

One potentially big move is that the Knicks declined to tender a $6.3 million qualifying offer to Precious Achiuwa. That means they’re no longer able to match any offer and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. The Nigerian big man was signed in late December along with OG Anunoby and ultimately played well. Still, the Knicks couldn’t afford for him to pick up that option. If they did, they’d have absolutely no chance of keeping Isaiah Hartenstein, as not only would it put them dangerously close to the current salary cap, but it would also limit what they can offer him if they could put more money into the Bridges deal to bring the salary cap to the second apron.

And finally, the two-way strategy. The Knicks have extended a qualifying offer to Jacob Toppin, essentially securing his spot as a two-way player for next year. Obi’s little brother has played in nine games for the team, most of them in overtime. The former Kentucky player averaged 15 points per game with 7 rebounds and a shooting percentage of 41/30/82 in the G-League.

The other two, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington Jr., were released by the Knicks. Brown had previous experience with Atlanta, OKC, Dallas and Philly before appearing in eight games for the Knicks this season, including some real-minute appearances when things got really tough. Washington played 79 games with Indiana and Phoenix from 2021-2023, but spent most of his time in the Knicks organization injured, never playing for the big club and only playing 3 games in Westchester.

What does that mean?

The Knicks now have 10 guaranteed players. Again, this doesn’t include Pacome Dadiet or the three second-round picks. They also only included one of the three two-way picks.

As for roster construction, the Knicks still have room to put some of their second-round picks on a two-way deal (or sign a UDFA). This could be the fate of Kevin McCullar Jr. or Ariel Hukporti. Tyler Kolek will definitely get a spot on the full roster.

As for free agency, the Knicks now have $9.1 million left before hitting the cap if we include Dadiet’s salary cap. They can create another $10 million if they work some magic on the Bridges trade. Fred Katz has floated a scenario where they sign their second-round picks and pair them with a minimum player like Mamadi Diakite (contract isn’t fully guaranteed until 10/1/2025) or Sims. Another scenario is a sign-and-trade involving Alec Burks or Achiuwa. Options, options, options.