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?
Impossible question without knowing how he plays this year which is why he’s banking on himself and Knicks are wait and see. If he plays like last year or better, then they should pay just about whatever it takes. He was awesome. If he’s a little worse then they have to really think about it, if he’s not traded before then.
Truth is, teams just don’t offer RFAs that much on the open market. They don’t wanna wait around to see if the home team matches, etc. We saw it with Reaves. That’s part of the Knicks thinking I’m sure.