Rather than enter the second apron this past summer, the Oklahoma City Thunder shed a bunch of money to duck it. Their endgame: buy one more year out of second-apron waters before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s salary explodes.
If the New York Knicks’ reported extension offer(s) to Karl-Anthony Towns are any indication, they’re employing the same blueprint in anticipation of Jalen Brunson’s next contract.
The Knicks are trying to stay out of the second apron in 2027-28 with minimal collateral damage
Ian Begley of SNY reported the team’s pitches to KAT have hovered inside the annual range of $45 million to $50 million. Even if he signed for the apex of that offer, Towns would be lowering his $61 million salary for 2027-28 (player option) by at least $11 million.
Technically, it could be a bigger difference. A four-year, $200 million extension can start as low as $44.7 million, and scale up with 8 percent raises.
For our purposes, let’s just assume Towns’ deal would begin at $50 million in 2027-28. That would take the Knicks from a projected $9.3 million in second-apron room to roughly $20.3 million.
This forecast only includes 10 players, and Miles McBride isn’t one of them. A $20 million cushion below the second apron probably won’t be enough to keep him, and then fill out the other three spots.
Then again, the market for small guards who don’t run offense is fickle. So, it could be enough. New York also has Josh Hart’s team option with which it can play around. If he signs a new deal that begins lower than his current $22.4 million salary in 2027-28, it opens even more flexibility outside the second apron.
Point being: The highest end of the Knicks’ current offer to Towns would (largely) let them keep the band together while skirting the second apron for another year, if not two—a valuable delay knowing what might be coming with Brunson.
Jalen Brunson may be tracking toward his Shai Gilgeous-Alexander moment
New York’s captain will be eligible to sign a four-year max extension next summer worth a projected $286.5 million. That deal would kick in for the 2028-29 season, and see Brunson’s salary go from $40.5 million 2027-28 to $63.9 million—an increase of more than $23 million.
Oklahoma City is navigating identical territory with its two-time reigning MVP. SGA signed an extension last summer that takes effect in 2027-28. At that time, his salary will spike from $40.8 million to $61.6 million—a rise of nearly $21 million.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti all but cited this meteoric uptick as the reason why he salary-dumped Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins over the offseason. Oklahoma City is biding time beneath the second apron while it can.
The Knicks’ reported offers to Towns are ironclad proof they’re doing the same thing. Granted, unlike the Thunder, their owner has already declared entering the second apron a perpetual no-go. But James Dolan could be signing a different tune if and when Brunson’s salary shoots up by $23 million from one year to the next.
How all of this ends is anyone’s guess. Towns may or may not sign an extension. Brunson may or may not take another discount in next summer’s deal.
In the absence of that clarity, though, the Knicks are clearly borrowing a page from the Thunder’s playbook: doing everything possible to avoid the second apron until their most important player earns so much that they can’t anymore.
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