New York Knicks: How much cap space is projected for 2021 offseason?

After Monday’s report, how much cap space do the New York Knicks project to have for the 2021 offseason?

Cap space is a never-ending topic for the New York Knicks. Questions on this clouded the team’s 2018-19 season, with the prospect of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler and other big names looming in free agency. Of course, none of them signed with the Knicks.

That will not thwart future speculation, however, as the NBA always looks forward, especially for a 2021 offseason which projects Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James, among other top players, to hit the open market.

For that free agency, teams will have ample cap space to toy with. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, NBA organizations will have a $125 million salary cap for the summer of 2021.

Given this is just under two years away, much can change for the Knicks’ financial situation. They have contracts that will stay on the books for 2020 or have decisions to make on them before next July’s free agency starts, all of which will impact the available cap space in 2021, which projects at $80.72 million.

Only five players are linked to the 2021 payroll, four of which are on team options: RJ Barrett ($8.62 million), Kevin Knox ($5.84 million), Mitchell Robinson ($1.8 million) and Ignas Brazdeikis ($1.78 million). Julius Randle has a partially guaranteed contract for $4 million.

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This situation will change if the Knicks add players in 2020 on multi-year contracts in free agency or when 2020 draft picks sign their rookie-scale deals. Still, over $80 million is significant and positions the Knicks for up to two max contracts.

Looking that far down the road did New York no favors last time, so nothing will be guaranteed when the 2021 offseason arrives. Other teams will compete for those cornerstone players, creating more in-season and out-of-season chaos like the months leading to this past June 30.

All the Knicks can do in the meantime is establish themselves as a competitive team, not the one that just went 17-65. The Brooklyn Nets did this and won the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant sweepstakes. The Los Angeles Clippers lured Kawhi Leonard from an NBA championship team.

The big market will only mean so much for the Knicks to make signing top free agents realistic. It increases the importance of the next two seasons, as this organization will try to jump from the gutter of the NBA’s standings. While not an overnight fix, they can take a step forward to capitalize on the cap space down the line.