The Knicks’ offseason puzzle still has a few loose pieces, and the biggest one may be how - or if - they can fit Jack Kayil into the picture this season.
New York took the point guard with the 39th pick, but even then it wasn’t clear whether he’d head straight to the NBA or remain in the German league. The early signs pointed toward him staying overseas, according to Ian Begley of SNY. That remains the tricky part: Kayil has shown enough in Summer League to keep the door open, but the path to getting him on the roster is far from simple.
His scoring efficiency has been uneven, yet there have been bright spots. In a win over the Pistons, he put up 19 points and four assists, a reminder of why the Knicks were interested in him in the first place. Begley notes that bringing him over on a team-friendly deal would be a win for New York.
The problem is the roster math. The Knicks are currently $3.3MM below the second apron, have 13 players under contract and still don’t have a third-string center.
That makes the 14th roster spot hard to hand over to Kayil. There’s another wrinkle, too: if the Knicks signed him to a two-way deal, they would not be allowed to pay his NBA buyout from his German team.
That issue would not apply to their other draft pick, Tyler Nickel, the sharp-shooting wing.
So while Kayil likely has a future with the Knicks, getting him here now may be too complicated for a team trying to protect its championship core and avoid financial penalties.
Karl-Anthony Towns sits at the center of another major decision. James L.
Edwards III wrote in a mailbag for The Athletic that Towns is likely to be offered an extension, but the real question is whether New York would go all the way to the full four-year, $272MM max. Towns is 30, and the payroll is already climbing fast even before Josh Hart’s extension eligibility comes into play.
Edwards said he’d be surprised if the sides landed on the full max.
Mohamed Diawara’s Summer League, meanwhile, didn’t go the way he probably wanted. He arrived after signing a four-year contract and was expected to get rolling, but instead struggled badly on offense. Across two games, he shot 1-of-14 from the field and 1-of-10 from deep, while also committing four turnovers against just one assist.
Still, Edwards doesn’t think that showing changes the way the Knicks view him overall. Diawara spent most of that stretch without Kayil, the only true point guard on the Summer League roster, and he’s not being projected as someone who will create his own shot at a high level anyway. The Knicks see him more as a player who can fit around their established talent, so Summer League wasn’t the place to draw sweeping conclusions.
The center situation also remains worth watching. New York has only Towns and newly signed Andre Drummond on the roster, but Edwards does not expect the Knicks to spend long stretches going small if one of them gets hurt. If the team doesn’t use the 14th spot on another center - with Nick Richards mentioned as the best name still available - Edwards expects them to fill that need with a two-way contract instead.
There’s also a real chance the Knicks simply keep the 14th spot open and hold a training camp battle for it, just as they did last year. That approach worked out when Landry Shamet won the job, and it ended up paying off in a big way during the team’s title run.
In Other News...
Knicks Cant Ignore This Frontcourt Decision Any Longer
The Knicks have made their frontcourt priorities pretty clear as the roster takes shape around Karl-Anthony Towns. With Mitchell Robinson no longer in the picture, New York keeps circling back to the same need: one more big man to help stabilize the rotation and give the team a little more size and insurance up front.
Moussa Cisse was part of that search, but he is off the board now, and the Knicks are still working through other center options such as Moussa Diabate and Yves Missi. There is also a path to open another roster spot by moving a small salary, a wrinkle that could affect Pacome Dadiet or even Tyler Kolek, which only adds to the sense that the Knicks are not done sorting out the last pieces of the puzzle. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Fans Just Got A Painful Reminder About The Second Apron
The second apron has become the NBAs newest hard truth, and the Knicks are hardly alone in dealing with it. Around the league, teams are adjusting their payrolls to avoid the steep penalties that come with crossing that line, a reminder that even ambitious contenders have to think twice before spending their way into trouble. For New York, that reality has already shaped the roster conversation in a very visible way, especially after governor James Dolan publicly took aim at the idea of living above that threshold.
Oklahoma Citys latest move only sharpened the picture, with the Thunder making a financial adjustment that brought them below the second apron and left the Knicks looking at the same league-wide pressure from a familiar angle. It is the kind of cost-control math that now hangs over every front office decision, and for the Knicks it comes with a painful reminder of what restraint can mean on the court. Mitchell Robinsons departure remains part of that ledger, and the broader question is how much more of this kind of sacrifice New York is willing to absorb. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks May Have Finally Found A Real Answer For That Last Spot
The Knicks still have one roster spot to sort out, and the front office appears to be thinking big-man first. With the team looking to add a center, the appeal is obvious: someone who can help on the glass, hold up defensively and give the bench a more reliable interior presence when the games tighten up later in the season.
One name that fits that profile is Dylan Cardwell, an undrafted player who earned a standard contract with Sacramento by doing the dirty work that translates well at the next level. His rebounding and defensive impact stand out, and there is enough versatility there to make him more than just a body at the rim. The issue for New York is whether Sacramento would even entertain moving him, given the Kings roster depth and the way their current contract situation makes useful young pieces harder to shake loose. [Read more 🡒]