The Knicks have three extension-eligible names on the table in Karl-Anthony Towns, Miles McBride and Josh Hart, but Stefan Bondy of the New York Post doesn’t expect any of them to get a deal done before the season tips off.
Towns is the big swing in the group. He can sign a four-year max extension worth $272MM, but Bondy says that route would bring major salary-cap headaches.
For New York to even consider it, Towns would need to take a steep discount into the $180MM range. McBride presents a different kind of problem: extending him would mean giving up what may be the team’s most movable trade chip.
Hart, meanwhile, remains under team control for two more years, including a team option for the 2027/28 season.
Bondy also reported that the Knicks’ coaching staff is mostly intact, with one notable departure. Assistant Jordan Brink left for the Bulls after deciding Chicago’s offer was too strong to turn down.
Brink also has his eyes on becoming a head coach someday, and Bondy says the Bulls give him a clearer route to that goal than New York. In the front office, senior VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas did not return after his contract expired.
According to Bondy, Rosas was looking for a new opportunity and was not really given a chance to stay.
In Indiana, Tony East of CircleCitySpin.com expects the Pacers to open the year with 14 players on standard contracts, leaving them one short of the maximum. They can add a 15th player on a veteran’s minimum deal beginning in early November if the roster calls for it, though their hard cap status likely means they’ll hold off longer before making that move. East also laid out the reasoning behind the team’s two-way choices, which went to Kobe Brown, Jalen Slawson and rookie Braden Smith.
And in Milwaukee, the Bucks took part in some offseason bonding of their own. JR Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the team held a players minicamp in Texas this week, with nearly everyone on the current roster in attendance. The event was apparently organized by Myles Turner.
In Other News...
Naji Marshall Joins NBA Pushback Over Disrespectful T.J. McConnell Take
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Giannis Antetokounmpo, Naji Marshall, Kenyon Martin and Patrick Beverly were among those who publicly disagreed, treating McConnell less like a target of internet debate and more like a proven NBA player whose value goes beyond highlight clips. For Pacers fans, it was another reminder that McConnells game tends to earn respect from those inside the sport, even when outsiders try to reduce it to a theory about how he would look in a street-style setting. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Still Have One Rivalry That Means More Than Ever
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Now the focus has shifted to Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Haliburton, two guards who give the matchup a fresh face without draining any of its old tension. Add in the other key names who have helped shape the recent meetings, and it is easy to see why this remains the one opponent that can make a regular-season game feel like something heavier for Indiana going into the new season. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers And Colts Suddenly Share A Familiar Worry This Season
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For Indiana fans, the parallel is more than a curiosity. Both clubs are staring at the same hard truth: a talented roster can look very different until a centerpiece is back and functioning like himself, and the timetable for that kind of return can shape everything from lineups to optimism. The Pacers and Colts each have other players to sort through and roles to define, but the biggest question hanging over both teams is whether their key returnees can eventually give them the stability they are building toward. [Read more 🡒]