Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York Knicks are reportedly still far apart in their ongoing extension talks. Stefan Bondy of the New York Post revealed on Monday that the two sides are in a $77 million standoff.
Considering all that the All-Star big man did for the ball club last season, most notably serving as the offensive hub throughout their title-winning playoff excursion, Towns has every right to feel he deserves as much as he's eligible to earn with this next deal.
On the flip side, and to no fault of his own, the Knicks are right to be hesitant about dropping a new $277 million deal on one player, and, sadly, the failure of Pacome Dadiet only makes their pause more justified.
Pacome Dadiet failure not encouraging as Knicks navigate new CBA
In this new era of tax aprons, hitting on draft picks is becoming even more necessary for salary-strapped squads, as it lets them surround their higher-paid players with lower-cost, rookie-scale talents.
This approach has already been implemented and, frankly, executed seamlessly by teams like the Thunder and Spurs, as they are both sporting rosters with multiple max players who are surrounded by young prospects still on rookie deals.
Unfortunately, the Knicks' most recent first-round swings have ultimately proven to be wildly underwhelming, with Dadiet serving as their latest example of a painful strikeout.
At this point, there's no denying the Frenchman is widely regarded as a draft bust, and recent reports that he has no trade value only further reinforce this sentiment.
Missing on a top-25 draft pick as badly as New York did is far from a confidence booster for hopes that they can start landing major talents in future drafts.
Now, fortunately, the Knicks have had some success in past drafts, particularly with second-round pickups like Tyler Kolek and Mohamed Diawara.
However, even in these instances, they've also notably passed on objectively higher-upside studs like Jaylen Wells and even gave up on rising star Ajay Mitchell, two players who undoubtedly would be viewed as foundational and untouchable roster pieces at this point in time.
This kind of track record, coupled with the reality that their already high payroll is only bound to skyrocket if they ink Towns, Jalen Brunson, and OG Anunoby to max deals over the next few weeks and, for the latter two, next year, doesn't seem like a recipe for success when it comes to keeping New York under the second apron and in long-term contention like James Dolan is mandating.
All things considered, it makes sense why the Knicks are dragging their feet in these ongoing negotiations with KAT.
Should they ultimately reach a high-cost agreement, as many still expect, the pressure on Leon Rose and company to hit on their future draft picks will be even more immense.
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