Fresh off the franchise’s first title in 53 years, Knicks owner James Dolan said in a radio interview that he wants to avoid the second tax apron for the 2026/27 season.
Speaking on WFAN’s The Carton Show (Twitter video link), Dolan said it would “suicidal” for the franchise to become a second apron club.
“If we could bring back the whole team, exactly as it is, why wouldn’t you? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to,” he said. “We’re willing to stretch, but there’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do and we’re not going to do those. One of them is the second apron. Cannot go into the second apron. … I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check that goes into the second apron.”
If that’s the case, the Knicks will have some hard decisions to make this offseason. Topped by Karl-Anthony Towns‘ $57MM contract for next season, the Knicks have approximately $201MM tied into eight guaranteed salary commitments. Most of that total is invested in starters Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, all of whom remain under contract for multiple seasons.
Several key reserves are headed to free agency though, and while there are no cap rules prohibiting the Knicks from re-signing any of them, it will almost certainly be impossible to keep them all without going over the second tax apron.
Jose Alvarado holds a $4.5MM player option on his contract — if he exercises it, that would add to the Knicks’ guaranteed salary total. Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson are headed to unrestricted free agency, while Mohamed Diawara and Ariel Hukporti will become restricted free agents at the end of the month if they’re issued qualifying offers.
A new market-value contract for Robinson alone could push the Knicks close to or into the second apron, which is projected at $221.7MM for next season. Retaining Alvarado, Robinson and Shamet would push them further above that threshold, and they’d still have to fill out the remainder of the roster.
Re-signing Diawara could also be difficult if another team aggressively pursues him, since the Knicks only hold his Non-Bird rights after he earned the minimum as a rookie. Diawara appeared in 69 regular season games, though he had a minimal role in the postseason.
What Dolan didn’t clarify was whether he wanted to avoid the second apron due to its roster-building restrictions or to keep the payroll under control. However, to avoid that apron the Knicks would more than likely need to fill most of their bench with players on veteran’s minimum deals and rookie contracts.
The restrictions for teams operating over the second apron include not being allowed to use any portion of the mid-level exception, aggregate two or more player salaries in a trade, send out cash as part of a trade, or acquire a player via trade by using a signed-and-traded player for salary-matching purposes. Teams that finish the season above the second apron also have their first-round pick in the draft seven years away “frozen” — that pick would not be tradable unless the club spent enough subsequent seasons out of second apron territory.
