Rather than just re-sign Landry Shamet and call it an offseason, the New York Knicks may look at adding another veteran free agent on top of him. And if they go that route, they'll need the magic touch from one of their secret weapons in Leon Rose's front office: Brock Aller, the Vice President of Basketball and Strategic Planning.
Aller is known as The Mecca's cap guru. His impact reverberates across the roster, even when it's not smacking you in the face. He is no doubt the person behind last year’s maneuvering around the 14-player roster minimum to start the season—logistical gymnastics that paved the way for them to bring back Landry Shamet. You can bet his imprints are also all over Guerschon Yabusele taking just enough less in free agency so New York has room to sign one more player with more than two years of experience to a minimum contract.
Most recently, SNY’s Ian Begley said an episode of The Putback podcast that “would not rule out the idea that the Knicks want to bring in another veteran in addition to a Shamet.” If this is indeed the goal, New York is once again entering prime Aller territory.
The Knicks must make a trade if they want to sign two vets
Right now, the Knicks are about $3.7 million below the second apron. A pair of veteran minimum deals—one presumably for Shamet, one for another player—will cost $4.6 million. That leaves them around $900,000 short.
Shedding that money isn’t difficult. It is, however, somewhat complicated for the Knicks. They aren’t teeming with a ton of expendable salary. It makes no sense to jettison Deuce McBride, Mitchell Robinson, or Josh Hart as part of some plan to sign another veteran who may or may not crack the top-nine spots in the rotation.
Offloading Tyler Kolek or Pacome Dadiet is the cleanest path to clearing the way for another minimum slot. Stomaching the loss of a young player is tough, but the Knicks are decidedly win-now, and have already made it clear neither will be part of this season’s rotation.
Dadiet feels less expendable of the two. He is rawer, but also has the higher upside as a defensively malleable wing who’s only 20 years old. Kolek is significantly older, at 24, and York’s preference for signing a guard doesn’t say much about its faith in him.
Enter salary-cap magician Brock Aller
Two veteran minimums ($2.3 million apiece) and one rookie minimum ($1.3 million) will total close to $5.9 million. We know the Knicks have $3.7 million in room beneath the second apron. If they salary-dump Kolek, they’ll have just over $5.9 million in runway. That’s enough to add two vet minimums, and then sign someone such as Mohamed Diawara to a rookie minimum—by less than $45,000.
New York may want to increase that wiggle room to make certain midseason transactions even the teensiest bit easier. This can be done by dipping below the 14-player minimum. The league allows teams to do this for 14 days at a time, but for no more than 28 days total.
So, what the Knicks can do is sign their two vets, and then leave the rookie-minimum slot open for the first two weeks of the regular season. Since the schedule is 174 days long, this saves around $7,300 per day, for a total north of $100,000 across the two-week period.
New York has other mechanisms to explore, too. It could leave the roster spot open for the full 28 days (though, not consecutively) to create even more breathing room. It could also re-sign Shamet, add a rookie minimum, and then leave the vet’s slot open for that time.
Regardless, expect them to turn over every possible rock if they want two more vets. Brock Aller will make sure of it.