New York Knicks: Months later, free agency is finally addressed

At long last, the New York Knicks addressed what happened in free agency at Monday’s Media Day. What did president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry say?

With approximately $70 million in cap space to start free agency, the New York Knicks had the room to sign two max free agents. This did not happen, but the team still added seven players and two draft picks. Besides RJ Barrett and Ignas Brazdeikis, no one received a formal press-conference introduction.

During Monday’s Media Day, president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry opened the event by addressing the offseason.

Mills focused on the players signed and not who went elsewhere. He said there were “six guys that were important to us that we were lined up to meet with,” which signaled out the acquired players in free agency like Julius Randle and Marcus Morris.

Per Marc Berman of the New York Post, Mills said it was a “summer we’re excited about.” Most notably, he called free agency a “very fluid thing.”

Of course, free agency took its twists and turns, as the Knicks were long speculated to be in line for Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and other big-name free agents dating back to the beginning of the 2018-19 season. That never transpired, with Durant and Irving signing with the cross-town Brooklyn Nets and Kawhi Leonard moving to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Whether or not the Knicks were ever in the running for those players, they still found their guys.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Media Day’s opener, Mills said there were “a lot of max-type players that we could have met with.” However, there was a “certain way” they wanted to build this team, per SNY.

Maybe that dodged the concept of signing Durant or Irving or someone else, but, again, Mills focused on the players in the building, contracted to the team. Speaking on anyone else can lead to a tampering violation.

There was not much fanfare around these comments, but it was still the first time the Knicks addressed free agency since it started 90 days ago. This could be the first and only time it becomes spoken, with the 2019-20 NBA season near and the summer, finally, pushed aside.

The spotlight shifts towards the players wearing the New York Knicks uniform. If they perform well, it could further remove the offseason conversation and not make it a topic until June 30, 2020.