The Knicks have work left to do at the bottom of the roster, and the frontcourt is where the pressure is building. As of Sunday morning, New York had 13 players on guaranteed standard contracts and sat about $3.27MM below the second tax apron, according to Yossi Gozlan of CapSheets.com.
That financial picture matters because James Dolan said soon after the Knicks won their first title in 53 years that the team would not go over the second apron in 2026/27. Since then, New York has watched Mitchell Robinson leave in free agency. After eight seasons with the Knicks, the 28-year-old center landed a three-year, $47.4MM deal with the Celtics.
Robinson’s departure removes a player who gave New York a very specific edge. He was one of the league’s best offensive rebounders, a strong screener and a versatile defender. But his scoring has never been a major part of the package, and injuries have followed him throughout his career.
The Knicks also lost their third-string center, Ariel Hukporti, who signed a one-year, $3.4MM deal with the 76ers. The German big man barely played across his first two seasons, but Philadelphia clearly saw enough in his minutes to bring him in.
To help patch the middle, New York signed Andre Drummond to a one-year minimum deal as Karl-Anthony Towns’ backup. Drummond will make $3.88MM in 2026/27, though the Knicks will count him at $2.45MM against the cap.
Even with Drummond in place, the search for another big continues. The Knicks signed restricted free agent Moussa Cisse to a two-year, minimum-salary offer sheet, but Dallas matched it. New York has also been tied to Pelicans big men Yves Missi and Karlo Matkovic, along with Hornets center Moussa Diabate.
Cisse’s deal is still non-guaranteed. It becomes partially guaranteed for $1.1MM if he remains on the Mavericks’ roster past September 1, and his full $2.2MM salary locks in after Oct.
- Dallas is dealing with a minor roster crunch, so a waiver is at least a theoretical possibility.
Ian Begley of SNY.tv reported that the Knicks have been in touch with several free agent centers as they sort out their third-center spot. But Begley also noted that if New York were ready to hand out a guaranteed deal to one of those players, it probably would have happened already.
That leaves the likeliest path pretty clear: unless the Knicks trade for a third center or someone unexpected like Cisse gets waived, Begley expects them to bring in multiple big men on non-guaranteed contracts and let them fight for the job.
The cap math is tight enough that even another veteran on a minimum deal would carry a $2.45MM cap hit and leave New York about $820K under the second apron. If the Knicks keep treating the second apron like a hard cap, that would delay the addition of a 15th man until well into the regular season.
There’s also unfinished business with second-round pick Tyler Nickel, taken No. 47 overall. If New York signs him to a rookie minimum deal, his cap hit would be $1.36MM. That would be a surprise, but it remains on the table.
Nickel is also a two-way candidate, and there are conflicting reports on whether he plans to sign his first NBA contract or return to college for a fifth NCAA season after being granted - at least temporarily - another year of eligibility. If he goes back, he would function as a domestic draft-and-stash player.
And the Knicks have one more roster tool sitting open: they are the only team in the league with all three two-way spots available. That gives them another route to add young frontcourt help, and a big man or two on two-way deals would make sense as they try to shore up the depth chart.
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