Gary Trent Jr.’s four-year, $64 million contract is a deal nobody saw coming. And frankly, it’s also one that the New York Knicks could’ve been on the hook for with Landry Shamet if they let themselves fall into the Early Bird rights trap the Milwaukee Bucks into which the Milwaukee Bucks just plunged.
Since both Trent and Shamet were on their respective teams for two straight seasons afteri initially signing as free agents, they were eligible to receive pacts worth up to 105 percent of the league’s average salary over the course of four years. The max total on such a contract projects to be $68.1 million.
Trent just got nearly all of that. More notably, the Bucks gave it to him even after he turned in a 2025-26 to forget. The overpay feels so egregious that respected minds are already certain an agreement was in place before last season.
Shamet, meanwhile, was just the sixth or seventh most important player on a championship squad. He re-signed with the Knicks on a four-year deal worth $24 million in which only the first two seasons are fully guaranteed.
Think about this. Really think about it. Shamet’s total guarantee ($12.8 million) is essentially 20 percent of that for Trent ($64 million). That isn’t just nuts. It’s further proof of how wisely the Knicks are run, and of the dynamic they have built behind the scenes.
The Knicks front office continues to prove its mettle
Full disclosure: Trent and Shamet are not perfect analogs. Shamet was clearly better last year, but he was also battling for a roster spot to open training camp. Trent’s previous two-year deal with Milwaukee was seen as a relative steal (until it wasn't).
But this only adds to the significance of Shamet’s return. He had bigger offers to leave New York. He stayed anyway. That doesn’t happen unless there is near-perfect synergy between player and team.
This is first and foremost a testament to Shamet. It’s also another feather in the cap of the Leon Rose-led front office. James Dolan’s irrational fear of the second apron limited what they could do, but the Knicks could’ve just as easily felt obligated to throw more money at Shamet, or even match Mitchell Robinson’s contract with the Boston Celtics.
They wouldn’t have necessarily been wrong to do so, either. Championship windows are inherently fleeting nowadays. Doing whatever it takes to preserve the core that just opened one is perfectly reasonable.
Yet, New York instead avoided painting itself into a corner.
Having Shamet’s Early Bird rights didn’t coax them into underplaying their hand. The Knicks didn’t let Jose Alvarado’s player option create undue urgency. And even if Dolan weren’t a factor, there’s reason to believe this front office wouldn’t have blindly paid Robinson a contract that, despite all he’s capable of doing, could age poorly.
New York's small victories add up
Indeed, New York earned the benefit of the doubt before now. Shamet’s new deal never needed a Gary Trent Jr.-sized reference point. But it never hurts to get one anyway.
Regardless of how or why the Bucks ended up here, they still fell into the Early Bird rights trap. The Knicks avoided that same pitfall—just as they restrained themselves from overpaying to retain others, and even from messing with the roster when things were trending toward going belly up this past season.
What we’re seeing from the Knicks this summer may not look or feel like much. But then you gauge their business against outcomes like the Trent contract, and realize that their shrewd roster management, however subtle, is everything.
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