NBA Offseason

Knicks should foot second apron bill. Not doing so would be even more costly

Knicks owner James Dolan has said publicly he doesn't want to have his team in the second apron. Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

Throw caution to the wind. The second apron is not as daunting as some claim. And if the New York Knicks remain below it, as owner James Dolan said they would, they will enter next season as a worse basketball team.

The second apron, a payroll threshold that projects to be $222 million in 2026-27, might scare off most organizations, but until Dolan popped up on the radio earlier this month, New York was not supposed to be one of them. As the general spiel goes, the issue with crossing into such expensive territory, a marker that’s $21 million above the luxury tax, is not just the money; it’s the lost resources. Go beyond that $222 million figure, and a franchise kisses away the ability to make most types of trades and execute most kinds of free-agent signings.

The Knicks’ front office knows this. And yet, it also understands that dipping below the second apron would lead to much of its depth flocking elsewhere, which is why, despite Dolan’s desires, it wants to go over the second apron, according to league sources, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. But so far, Dolan has not changed his mind.

New York just won a title in large part because of its reserves, because Landry Shamet did not miss a 3-pointer for a month, because Jose Alvarado changed Game 4 of the NBA Finals, because Mitchell Robinson grabbed six offensive boards in the clincher, because Miles “Deuce” McBride went berserk to polish off the Philadelphia 76ers, and because Jordan Clarkson nailed a floater here or grabbed a rebound there.

As Clarkson repeated whenever prompted with wonders of how this group reached such nirvana: “We’re good as f—-.” All the way down the roster.

Stay under the second apron, and that changes, as The Athletic’s James Edwards wrote earlier this week. The Knicks lose many of those players without the ability to replace them. The smart basketball strategy is to retain the assets, to re-sign free agents Robinson and Shamet, especially. But Dolan disagrees with the experts.

“We cannot go into the second apron,” he told WFAN on June 17.

He continued: “We’re willing to stretch, but there’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron.”

In general, Dolan’s logic is correct. Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers were the only team whose payroll ascended past the second apron. But the Knicks are no longer trying to reach the mountaintop. They’re already there.

Sure, if they had fallen to the Atlanta Hawks in Round 1, then flexibility would be a greater goal. The Knicks would need to improve, and soaring in the most constrictive financial landscape in the NBA would take away most paths to do so. But that is not reality.

The Knicks are no longer contenders. They are a step above. And you don’t break up title teams for no reason. Just ask the 2011 Dallas Mavericks. Otherwise, what is the goal of team-building at all?

So, why would Dolan insist upon staying under the second apron?

Maybe he is generalizing with one-size-fits-all logic. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to spend the money.

Robinson, Shamet, Alvarado, Clarkson and Ariel Hukporti can hit free agency next week. If Dolan changes his mind before then, the Knicks can retain their guys. But in doing so, their payroll (and luxury-tax payments) would reach new levels.

Let’s outline the cheapest realistic scenario in which the Knicks re-sign their most consequential second-stringers. Hypothetically, let’s say Robinson re-signs on a $15 million 2026-27 salary; Shamet comes back for $5.5 million; Alvarado declines his $4.5 million player option and lands on a three-year, $9 million contract, choosing security over a slightly higher salary. The Knicks round out the roster by dumping third-year wing Pacôme Dadiet, then signing two veterans and one of their second-round picks to minimum deals.

In that case, they would go approximately $8 million over the second apron threshold, resulting in a tax payment of $90 million.

The money balloons from there. For example, if Robinson were to cost $20 million, Shamet cost $9 million and Alvarado picked up his player option, the Knicks would climb $18 million above the second apron, resulting in a tax bill near $150 million.