As the second round of the NBA playoffs has begun, the teams that missed the playoffs are getting a head start on their offseason plans. That means preparing for the upcoming NBA Draft and the all important summer free agency period. One of these teams in the prep stages of their offseason is the New York Knicks and are being led by the President of Basketball Operations, Phil Jackson.
In free agency, Jackson will be tasked with finding players who best fit the Knicks system, but he could have some trouble landing a big named free agent due to the Knicks cap space predicament.
Following from Ian Begley of ESPN.
Under current salary cap estimates, the Knicks would have $19 million to spend in free agency in this scenario. That, of course, is well below the first-year salary for the lowest tier of maximum salaried players ($25.2 million for players with 0-6 years of service).
With on $19 million in cap space, the Knicks are very restricted on who they can target in free agency. However, two players that Jackson could be targeting, regardless of the cap space, is Indiana Pacers guard Jeff Teague and New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday.
But it doesn’t seem like enough to lure New Orleans point guard Jrue Holiday or Indiana Pacers point guard Jeff Teague, who some in the organization see as potential free-agent targets, per league sources.
Although signing both may seem out of their realm, the Knicks would have to move some contracts around and take money off the books in order to make a run at both.
It’s safe to assume that either player could command near max money on the open market ($25 million). The Knicks would have to clear at least $7 million off of their committed money for next season to have enough money to give a max contract to Holiday, Teague or any other player with six years of service or fewer.
