The Knicks won a championship in June and cannot get their starting center to sign an extension in October. Karl-Anthony Towns is eligible for roughly $276 million over four years. New York’s offer reportedly starts somewhere around $45 to $50 million a year, which works out to about a $76 million haircut.
Towns’ side has reportedly described that offer as unreasonable. Malika Andrews of ESPN broke the stalemate story on Wednesday, relayed by Joe Pantorno of amNewYork.
The Owner Set the Ceiling
This is not a case of a front office undervaluing a player. James Dolan has reportedly instructed team president Leon Rose not to exceed the second apron, and that single instruction explains everything about where the negotiation sits.
The second apron is the hard wall of the current collective bargaining agreement. Cross it and a team loses access to trade flexibility, exceptions and draft pick movement in ways that can cripple a roster for years. Dolan deciding New York will not go there is a defensible position. It also means the max offer Towns can mathematically receive is well short of what the formula says he is owed.
Towns Is Not Being Unreasonable Either
The reporting says Towns is willing to take some kind of discount. He is not demanding every dollar. He is refusing to take a $76 million one.
His own words are notably free of leverage games. “I made it known I want to play here. I’ve been a fan since I was young. I would like to get one done, of course,” Towns said. “Obviously, I would like to get it done so I can feel as comfortable as possible.”
He also said there is “no comfortability to be had” playing without a deal, which is the closest thing to a warning shot in any of this.
In the title run he averaged 15.9 points and 10.6 rebounds. That is solid starting center production on a champion, not superstar production, and it sits awkwardly between the two numbers being argued about.
The Deadline That Matters Is Next Summer
Here is the part New York should be worried about. Towns holds a $61 million player option he can decline to become a free agent after this season.
So the Knicks are not negotiating against a deadline in October. They are negotiating against the possibility that their starting center walks into an open market next summer while they are capped out and committed to Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.
A deal is considered unlikely before the October 20 opener.
He Is Not the Only One Waiting
The Towns situation is the loudest, not the only one. Miles McBride’s extension talks have also stalled, and because league rules prevent extending and trading a player at the same time, McBride is now viewed as New York’s most likely trade candidate. He is in the final year of a three-year, $13 million deal.
Josh Hart’s extension talks are unresolved too. That is three rotation pieces from a championship team with unfinished contract business in the same training camp.
The Cost of Winning
This is what happens when a franchise finally wins. Everyone who contributed wants to get paid, the cap sheet is already heavy and ownership picks a line it will not cross.
Dolan is probably right about the second apron. Towns is probably right about the money. Both of those being true is exactly why this is going to drag into the season, and why New York’s title defense starts with a locker room full of men doing math.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.