The New York Knicks have a contract decision to make when it comes to guard Miles McBride. The 26-year-old became the team's longest-tenured player when Mitchell Robinson signed a three-year deal with the Boston Celtics earlier this offseason. But while McBride is slated to return as part of the Knicks' title defense, the guard is entering the final year of his contract.
Especially after losing Robinson in free agency, the Knicks would do well to keep McBride around for years to come. The second apron is pressing down on depth across the NBA. But, on the court, New York can't afford to keep losing talent to cost-cutting measures. To that effect, Leon Rose's front office has "been in regular contact" with McBride's representatives ahead of the 2026-27 campaign — something SNY's Ian Begley reported on Friday.
New York's executives love maintaining flexibility. Last summer, they extended Mikal Bridges just in time for the six-month embargo to expire — making the wing trade eligible — one day before the 2026 trade deadline. The foresight from the front office was perfectly on brand. And, because McBride's current salary is less than the league's average, the same kind of foresight will give the Knicks even more flexibility with a potential extension.
Knicks' foresight is rolling over to help with potential next McBride deal
The flexibility the Knicks maintained with regard to Bridges didn't end up mattering much. New York wound up keeping the two-way wing. He wound up proving essential to the organization's historic title-winning efforts.
That same organization, though, doesn't tend to bid against themselves. Extending Bridges when they did ensured they'd have some sort of an "out" during the 2025-26 regular season.
It was a textbook example of the kind of domination of the margins that Brock Aller's strategy department has become infamous for in league circles throughout his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers and now reigning NBA Champions.
In McBride's case, the Knicks can still navigate an extension that doesn't trigger that six-month embargo. His third deal with the Knicks, and in the NBA, just has to adhere to a few key stipulations. The New York Post's Stefan Bondy posted on Twitter that the additional flexibility comes from McBride's current deal coming in under the league's average salary.
Running some numbers on McBride's potential next Knicks contract
Daily Knicks' Dan Favale laid them out in early August, with the most important note being that the guard can't make more than 120% of the league's new average salary in the extension's first year.
To try and roughly estimate that amount, things have to start with the NBA's calculation of Estimated Average Player Salaries (EAPS) for future seasons. The figure tracks how much teams spend on each regular roster spot — and is published, at the end of each league year, for the season to come.
The league assumes the next season's EAPS will be 104.5% of their current figure, according to The CBA Guide. The league-announced EAPS of $15,163,000, from June, for the 2026-27 season would leave the 2027-28 figure at over $15.8 million. McBride's extension, as a result, would be able to start with a salary as high as over $19 million.
Some more obscure requirements for McBride's deal to maintain trade eligibility include a maximum of a 5% increase, or decrease, from each year of the contract to the next — and a maximum of three years of contract extension.
Using the $19 million maximum estimation for the extension, McBride could make as much as $19.95 million in 2028-29 and close to $21 million in 2030. If he and the Knicks agreed to the largest contract possible, that would still allow for the guard to be traded, it would be a three-year agreement for a rough total of $59.9 million.
The Knicks don't have to pay McBride that full amount. They also have the ability to sign the guard to a larger extension, so long as they're okay with the inseparable aftereffects of such a decision. According to Knicks Film School's Jeremy Cohen, McBride could sign for 140% of the EAPS and receive 8% raises from season to season. In that scenario, though, the contract would not be trade eligible during the 2026-27 regular season.
New York should want to keep McBride around. The fact that they can give him a significant raise while holding onto that trade flexibility might just leave a deal between the front office and the guard's representatives within reach. Only time, and Shams, will tell if they actually come to an agreement.
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