The Knicks are staring at a Miles McBride decision that feels awfully familiar to the one Boston just lived through with Al Horford.
McBride is heading into the final year of his contract, and New York can’t exactly rush to pay him right now. That puts the Knicks in the same kind of bind the Celtics faced after their title year, when they held off on extending Horford and kept him on an expiring deal anyway.
Boston’s thinking was simple: keep Horford around because they still needed him for the postseason in 2025. That meant accepting the risk that he could walk in free agency later.
And that’s exactly what happened. The Celtics kept him through the playoffs, then watched him leave in free agency.
New York could be headed down the same road with McBride if it decides his value in next year’s playoff run matters more than getting ahead of the contract situation now.
The second apron makes these choices even tougher. Boston learned that the hard way, and Horford became one of the casualties of that reality in the summer of 2025.
The Celtics could have moved him at the deadline and tried to get something back. Instead, they rolled into the playoffs with him still on the roster because they knew they needed him. New York may end up making the same call with McBride.
If the Knicks want to keep him for next postseason, they may have to live with the possibility that he leaves in free agency. That was the risk Boston took with Horford.
And if New York doesn’t extend McBride before next season begins - which seems unlikely - then the decision only gets harder. Trade him at the deadline and take whatever value you can get? Or keep him, the way Boston kept Horford, because he might be too important when the games get tight?
The second option feels more realistic. What if the Knicks need McBride in the postseason? What if he turns into the sparkplug scorer who steals them a playoff game?
But that comes with the same danger Boston faced. If New York keeps McBride past the deadline, he could follow the Horford path and leave next summer. He’ll be a restricted free agent, but the Knicks probably won’t be able to afford him.
That’s the trap in front of them now. McBride and the Knicks are about to run into a Horford situation.
In Other News...
The Knicks Sent A Clear Offseason Message With Their Bench
The Knicks spent the offseason making a very specific kind of statement: keep the rotation intact, keep the bench useful and avoid the kind of splashy move that can reshape a roster in a hurry. Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson and Mohamed Diawara all came back on new deals, giving New York a second unit that looks familiar rather than experimental while the starting group remains unchanged.
There is a bigger financial reason behind that approach, too, with ownership directing the front office to stay below the NBAs second salary apron. That helps explain why the focus was on retaining depth instead of chasing a headline addition, and it leaves the Knicks betting that continuity can matter as much as star power when the season gets tight. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Just Got A Post-Title Warning About Karl-Anthony Towns
Karl-Anthony Towns was a central reason the Knicks finally climbed to the top of the NBA, and now the celebration has to give way to the business side of winning. After helping deliver the 2026 championship, Towns is still very much part of the conversation in New York, not just for what he already did, but for what his role means as the roster and the payroll get more complicated.
The Knicks have to balance keeping a title core intact with the realities of a tighter cap environment, and Towns sits right in the middle of that equation. His future gives the front office a real decision point, and it also raises a basketball question: whether a player who just helped bring home a banner can keep producing at that level while the expectations, touches and contract stakes keep rising. [Read more 🡒]
Karl-Anthony Towns Had A Blunt Take On Why Knicks Won
The Spurs run to the 2026 NBA Finals had already raised questions about how a young group would handle the pressure of a deep postseason, and Karl-Anthony Towns saw the answer play out in real time against the Knicks. He pointed to New Yorks more mature roster as a major separator, saying the Knicks carried themselves like a team built to handle the moment while San Antonio was still learning how to do that.
Towns framed the difference in blunt terms: young teams tend to play not to lose, while the Knicks were playing to win. In his view, the Spurs were more concerned with protecting leads than staying aggressive, and that mindset showed up in the way their advantages slipped away when the games tightened. [Read more 🡒]