The Athletic recently conducted a poll in which they have NBA front offices put together their own leaguewide front office rankings. And it seems the rest of the Association might be slightly souring on the job done by the New York Knicks’ Leon Rose-led operation.
Last year, New York’s C-Suite finished sixth in the same rankings. This season, however, they have slipped to eighth.
Tumbling two spots isn’t the end of the world. At the same time, there’s a case that the Knicks’ front office is being underrated by its peers.
The Knicks are being lauded for their roster management
New York absolutely nailed the salary-cap management portion of the exercise. Given how effectively they have straddled the aprons these past two seasons, this comes as little surprise. Here’s what The Athletic wrote about the response from rivals:
“However, just as big a reason for New York to land here, in the eyes of their rivals, is the Knicks’ ability to work the margin of the salary-cap rules under Rose, executive vice president William 'Worldwide Wes”'Wesley, senior vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, assistant GM Frank Zanin and cap guru Brock Aller.
"From landing an overseas rights player in seemingly every trade (New York has 15 of them now), to their complicated dance to complete the trade for Mikal Bridges a year ago while staying below the first apron and thus keep other trade possibilities alive — later coming to fruition in the trade for Karl-Anthony Towns — to the similar moves to stay below the second apron in the summer of 2025 while still adding Guerschon Yabusele with their taxpayer midlevel exception, New York has been savvy.”
It’s also worth noting that the Knicks have managed to retain key players on below-market deals. The Jalen Brunson extension is the mother of all highway robberies. Meanwhile, the Mikal Bridges extension is aging into one of the NBA’s better deals going forward.
OG Anunoby’s contract is steep, albeit far from below water. But the Knicks inked Deuce McBride after initially acquiring Anunoby to an extension that’s beyond team-friendly.
Retaining good players at manageable rates is critical to roster sustainability. Even as New York gets more expensive, it has been able to avoid the second apron for so long because of how well it’s negotiated with its own players.
New York’s front office has room for improvement
It’s not all sunshine and daisies for the Knicks’ front office. Their recent draft picks aren’t looking so hot. The lack of player development is a blight on both the coaching staff, and front office. The Yabusele signing is so far failing to pan out.
Critics will also point to the price paid in the Bridges trade, and how that's impacting their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Some of that’s fair.
By and large, however, the Bridges slants are overblown. While New York paid a premium for his services, it did so because of the contract he was on, because it sent out zero rotation players in return, and because it wasn’t required to take back any bad money.
On the whole, the Knicks and their fans should feel pretty good about outside perception of their front office. Finishing behind teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 7) and Miami Heat (No. 4) is debatable. But we’re not that far removed from a time in which New York would have welcomed a top-15 finish.
If nothing else, then, these NBA front office rankings are proof of how far the Knicks have come in a fairly short amount of time.