The Knicks should be celebrating a title and running it back with their core intact. Instead, they’re already creating friction with Karl-Anthony Towns, and that mess could end up helping the Indiana Pacers.
Towns is eligible for a five-year, $276 million contract, but he’s not interested in taking a pay cut anywhere near $80 million. New York has a history of getting stars to accept deals that come in well below market value, but that tactic doesn’t appear to be working here. And if the Knicks keep dragging their feet with Towns, it doesn’t just complicate his situation - it also stalls extension talks with Josh Hart, who wants one too.
That kind of standoff is the last thing a team wants after a championship run. Instead of a clean summer and a happy camp, the Knicks are staring at a potentially miserable start to training camp, with their best path forward suddenly looking a lot messier than it should.
And in a conference that already feels wide open, that matters.
The Pacers are not the only team eyeing a move up the ladder, either. The Philadelphia 76ers traded for Jaylen Brown and signed LeBron James in what some are calling one of the best offseasons ever.
The Atlanta Hawks added veterans who strengthen an already tough defense and still have plenty of picks to make a bigger swing. Around the East, there are a lot of teams believing they can land in the top four.
The list keeps going. The Toronto Raptors will be good.
The Orlando Magic will be good. The Boston Celtics will be good.
The Miami Heat, the Detroit Pistons, and the Cleveland Cavaliers will all be good.
That’s why any wobble from New York is worth watching in Indiana. The Pacers have issues of their own to sort through, but if a rival is busy unraveling, that’s the kind of help a team will gladly take.
New York still has a strong core and a top-10 player, so this is not some automatic collapse waiting to happen. But if the Knicks can’t smooth things over, the opening gets a little wider for the Pacers.
Towns would be a particularly painful loss if New York can’t get him back on the floor, especially after losing center Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics this offseason. The Knicks’ frontcourt depth is already thin, and losing the only real playable center they have would be a costly mistake.
For Indiana, though, every Knicks misstep is a chance to breathe a little easier.
In Other News...
Pacers Home Opener Turned Ugly After Aaron Nesmith Set Off Chaos
Tyrese Haliburtons return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for his first home game back from an Achilles injury should have been the emotional centerpiece of the night. Instead, the Pacers opener against Dallas took a sharp turn when Aaron Nesmith delivered a hard foul on Cooper Flagg, a play that quickly shifted the tone inside the building and put the focus on a sequence far removed from the welcome-back mood Indiana had hoped to create.
Flagg landed awkwardly and left with a left shoulder injury, then was ruled out for the rest of the game, leaving the Mavericks to regroup after the collision. The aftermath brought technical fouls for both Nesmith and Naji Marshall, a reminder of how quickly a regular-season home date can turn chippy when emotions run high and the games biggest moments start coming with an edge. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Suddenly Face Heat Over One Hard Foul On Cooper Flagg
A hard foul late in the game turned a routine Pacers-Mavericks matchup into something a lot more uncomfortable for Indiana, with Aaron Nesmiths contact sending Cooper Flagg to the floor and leaving the young Dallas forward dealing with a left shoulder injury. Officials reviewed the play and assessed Nesmith a flagrant one, while Flagg went to the locker room and did not return because of soreness.
For Indiana, the result on the scoreboard was only part of the fallout, because the play immediately became the main talking point once Dallas had finished off the win. Nesmith now sits at the center of the criticism after the sequence spread quickly on social media, and the Pacers are left waiting to see how the incident plays into the broader conversation around a physical game that got a lot more attention than anyone in the building probably wanted. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Suddenly Have A Real TJ McConnell Decision To Make
With TJ McConnell still rehabbing a hamstring injury, Rick Carlisle turned to Quenton Jackson as the backup point guard and got a useful answer in the Pacers latest game. Jackson, who has G League experience and came into this season on a two-way deal, handled the role well enough to draw praise from Carlisle, giving Indiana a little more confidence in a spot that suddenly matters more than it did a week ago.
The bigger question is what happens when McConnell is ready to return. Indiana does not have many obvious alternatives behind the lead guards, and players such as Braden Smith and Kobe Brown are not yet ready or suited to take on that job full time. Jacksons showing has at least made this a real conversation for Carlisle and the Pacers, with the coming weeks likely to determine whether this is a temporary patch or something closer to a new order in the backcourt. [Read more 🡒]