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The New York Knicks were by far the most active team on the trade market this offseason, at least in the blockbuster department. Not only did they trade for Karl-Anthony Towns last Friday, they also dealt away a plethora of first-round picks to bring Mikal Bridges in. They sense that there is a major opportunity for them to compete for a championship, and there's no question that they're going for it.
Building a roster with plenty of top-tier talent like the Knicks have requires careful planning and some much-needed foresight. The Knicks front office opened the door for a Towns trade by prioritizing flexibility in the aftermath of the deal that they struck with the Brooklyn Nets for Bridges.
As Keith Smith, cap expert for Spotrac, wrote, the Knicks decided to send more money in salary to the Nets than they got back in return. This then prevented them from being hard-capped at the first luxury tax apron. They would not have been able to trade for Towns using the package they gave away to the Minnesota Timberwolves if they were hard-capped at the first apron.
A trade for Towns would have required the Knicks to give up more assets if they were hard-capped at the first apron. But with the flexibility they retained by including Shake Milton (via sign-and-trade) in the Bridges deal, they were able to utilize some cap technicalities to match Towns' salary worth $49.2 million for the 2024-25 season, although it necessitated the inclusion of a third team to make the deal work.
It might be salary cap management 101 to do what the Knicks did; given their need for a center amid their lack of depth at the position as well as Mitchell Robinson's injury, allowing themselves to go past the first tax apron was a bare minimum requirement. But considering how mismanaged the Knicks have been for most of the 21st century, this level of awareness is refreshing, especially when it has proven to be the difference when it comes to acquiring a four-time All-Star who's still in the middle of his prime.
Knicks sacrifice depth for top-shelf talent — will it work?
The Knicks assembled for themselves some quality depth at every position to end the 2023-24 season. This depth came in handy amid injury problems to the likes of Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and OG Anunoby, allowing them to finish the season as the two-seed. They even came to within just one win away of making it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
But the Knicks then decided to consolidate their depth to acquire two quality pieces in Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. While Bridges gives the Knicks arguably the best 3-and-D wing duo in the league (alongside Anunoby) and Towns will make their offense close to unstoppable thanks to his generationally-great shooting ability, they will have to cobble together a workable bench mob from spare parts.
At the moment, only Miles McBride and Precious Achiuwa remain as convincing bench pieces for the Knicks. Cameron Payne could be of help as well. But their wing depth is very questionable now that Donte DiVincenzo is gone, and it's unclear who could step up to give the Knicks some quality production off the bench.
Even Tom Thibodeau, a head coach notorious for giving his players as many minutes as they can handle, will need to rely on more than just five players to achieve their goal of winning a championship.
