After having won their first championship in 53 years, the New York Knicks are flying high, but storm clouds are up ahead. They will have to make tough roster decisions this summer with them barely below the second apron.
In fact, they only have nine players under contract for next season but need at least four more players to reach the league's roster minimum. That's where the problems comes in.
They could have as little as $17 million to bring back several players. Notably Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet, and owner James Dolan has already indicated that he won't exceed the second apron.
Losing Robinson could be especially damaging with him expected to get a pay raise from the $12.9 million he made this past season.
The Knicks may lose several key championship pieces
The Los Angeles Lakers may be one of the teams interested in poaching Robinson, and they'd have a strong chance to do so given the Knicks' financial limitations.
Say, for instance, he were to receive a deal worth $20 million annually. There's no way New York could match it with them only having $17 million to spare below the second apron.
The same goes for Shamet, who was on a minimum contract but came up huge in the Eastern Conference Finals. He drilled a staggering 11 out of 12 threes in limited minutes and helped give New York an added punch off the bench.
Unfortunately for New York, another team is surely going to poach him by giving him a multi-year deal with more than the minimum.
The Knicks will have to get creative to fill roster holes
While Shamet wasn't a big rotation player until the playoffs, losing Robinson would hurt. He's their best rim protector and is an all-time great offensive rebounder. He isn't the most durable big man anyone's ever seen, but when healthy, he's exactly what the Knicks need.
You better believe teams will be ready to throw a big offer at him partly to steal him away from the Knicks. After all, teams often look to weaken a champion in free agency.
Remember when the Denver Nuggets lost Bruce Brown after winning in 2021 and the Toronto Raptors lost Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in 2022? Both teams lost key players, making it much harder for them to repeat. Hopefully, for the Knicks' sake, they won't have that happen to them next season.
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