It’s unclear what number Quickley wanted and what the Knicks were offering. Reportedly, executives think he’s worth 16M-20M/year, which i’m sure is an extension NYK would be happy with, but I think undervalues him in the marketplace. He has the best on/off numbers for a bench player in their first 3 seasons since Manu Ginobili.
If Utah offers 4/$120M, should the Knicks just let him go? If he’s not going to start for this team, it’s an awful lot of resources to commit to him. What’s the max you think the Knicks should be willing to match? Obviously it depends upon how well he plays this year, as he’s still a young and improving prospect.
The Knicks are in an interesting spot here. They have a lot of big contracts on their books. RJ/Randle/Brunson. They’ve paid role players like Mitchell/Divincenzo/Hart. They need to extend Grimes. They may need money for a Brunson Supermax starting in 26-27.
I feel like if the answer is below 30M a year, Knicks should look to trade him before the deadline. Ideally, package him with RJ Barrett and picks for an upgrade to help them compete for a championship. Barrett is signed for 4 more years, and i’m not sure he can be a rotation guy on a championship team.
Alternatively I’m sure he would fetch quite a few FRP at the deadline from a team like Utah or maybe even OKC if they really liked him. Letting him hit RFA and not matching would end up being a disaster, because he is an asset with quite a lot of value. Of course, if you trade him for picks you’re killing your chances of competing this playoffs. Some would say the Knicks have no chance anyway, but they will not approach it that way.
How should the Knicks play this?
The answer honestly really is contingent upon where the Knicks are as a team at the deadline, IQ’s own play, and how realistic a win-now trade is for the Knicks at that time. It’s contingent upon more factors than just IQ’s value to the Knicks or IQ’s value as a RFA. It’s really a hard question to answer at this time, but IQ is never likely to be a starter in New York realistically, and that is absolutely a factor in how far the Knicks should go in keeping him around, whether it be in the offseason or at the deadline.
We all know the Knicks wanna make a move for a star soon. But we can’t know exactly when that time to strike will be. The team that makes a move, if IQ is involved, will be looking for an extension. IQ’s value is tricky because he is looking to bet on himself on the market and wants a huge deal and of course probably look for a starting opportunity if it’s out there. A team risking trading for IQ and then losing him for nothing…his value isn’t as high in a trade as it appears to some it seems. There will also be questions surrounding the tax that are going to be factored in on the Knicks end. Let’s see where we are in December.