NY Knicks: The 3 most unlikely players to be on next year’s roster

Do you think the NY Knicks will bring back Mitchell Robinson or Nerlens Noel?

The honorable mentions for this article are Frank Ntilikina, Kevin Knox, and Obi Toppin for the following reasons.

Frank Ntilikina as we know can be a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

The Knicks can choose to match any offer that may come Frank’s way, but if a team were to come out and offer him a beefy contract, I doubt the Knicks would match anything too high.

If he can be brought back on a reasonable contract, I don’t see why the Knicks wouldn’t do that.

Kevin Knox has one year left on his rookie contract at around $6 million for the season.

He’s been riding the end of the bench for the bulk of the year so far and the same will likely happen next season as well.

He’s still a massive liability on defense and can’t really score the ball from anywhere aside from the corner 3-pointer, so trading him may be the way to go instead of paying someone $6 million to play very limited minutes.

The Knicks can find a budget forward to take his place for much less money and trade Knox for something of value. Perhaps a pick?

Still, I could definitely see Knox returning regardless of the points I’ve made.

Obi Toppin has been playing far better as of late, but because he plays the same position as the best player on today’s roster, he could be viewed as expendable but I doubt he’s moved in the offseason if at all.

Now, as far as Mitch and Noel…

I would love to have both back but I just don’t see it happening.

Noel has played well and has earned himself a nice little multi-year contract.

I’d love to have him back either as a starter while acquiring another bench piece to take a chunk of minutes at the 5 behind him or as a reserve himself.

Mitchell Robinson is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is likely going to be looking for an extension soon.

The Knicks have all the leverage now but won’t next year at this time when Mitch enters unrestricted free agency.

If the Knicks offer Mitch a nice deal and he declines for more money, I see them trading him this offseason or at next year’s trade deadline at the absolute latest.

If both are back next year AND Mitch doesn’t get extended, I would be shocked.