If you had any doubt the New York Knicks would make moves ahead of the February deadline, you can check them at the door right now. They are inevitably going to swing a move that, at minimum, allows them to fill out their 15th roster spot.
New York is currently less than $150,000 beneath the second apron, which they cannot exceed. As Jake Fischer of The Stein Line notes, this means the team cannot sign a pro-rated veteran minimum contract until April 2.
That is much too late for the Knicks to add another body. Their final regular season game is on Sunday, April 12. While anyone who’s a free agent as of March 1 is eligible for the playoff roster, they’ll want more than a week-and-a-half to integrate them.
This makes a cost-cutting trade inevitable. Whether it entails exchanging one player for a cheaper name or dumping someone altogether is all that’s left to figure out.
The Knicks should care about fleshing out the roster
Before anyone asks: Yes, New York should absolutely care about carrying a filled-out roster into the playoffs. The start of the regular season has shown this squad isn’t as deep as initially touted. A reliable backup point guard is nonexistent, and Guerschon Yabusele’s struggles have left some wondering whether head coach Mike Brown can eke out more minutes from Ariel Hukporti, or two-way player Trey Jemison III.
Performances will normalize as the season goes on. Jordan Clarkson is already trending upward, although part of the Jordan Clarkson experience is that he’ll invariably trend downward again. Yabusele can—and almost certainly will—play better.
Still, the Knicks must also grapple with the possibility that their available players won’t always be healthy. Josh Hart could be in line for an up-and-down season as he guts out nerve issues in his shooting hand. Mitchell Robinson has proven he can dominate even when playing smaller bursts, but his availability is forever a question mark.
So yes, the back end of the roster absolutely matters. That’s why New York initially wanted to increase flexibility prior to the regular season, and sign another veteran in addition to Landry Shamet.
We know how this is going to end
Based on how the early part of the schedule is playing out, Tyler Kolek and/or Pacome Dadiet will be finishing the year in another jersey.
Dadiet already found himself on the chopping block prior to Malcolm Brogdon’s surprise retirement, and he’s now behind rookie Mohamed Diawara in the rotation. Kolek received some legitimate reps through the first four games of the season, and has been basically relegated to garbage-time duty ever since.
Offloading one of them without taking a player back will afford the Knicks enough flexibility to sign two veterans before April 2. They could also look to move them for actual players on comparably cheap contracts. New York could even, in theory, strike a larger trade using one bigger salary that it turns into two players.
The exact parameters of a trade remain to be seen. Rest assured, though, one is coming.