Financial Implications After Knicks First Two Trade Deadline Moves

Now, Chicago is saddled with the $11 million that Yabusele is owed over the next season and a half, while Dalen Terry, the Chicago Bulls' direct return of the swap, has already been flipped for one Jose Alvarado.

The Knicks' books in 2026-27 were quietly loosened when they took on Terry's expiring salary, but now that they've signed up for Alvarado and the extra season worth of money he's expecting, they're more or less right back where they started if we're only evaluating the cold, hard numbers of the team's tax records. But given Alvarado's value to the team fitting more of what they need than Yabusele could, this is a better use of much of the same money.

Opening Up Financial Opportunities

For about 10 hours there, a nearly-$5.8 million bundle was erased from this summer's salary equation.

The Knicks nearly tasted considerable financial freedom, a real commodity considering all of the hungry mouths they have to feed. The extension-worthy Robinson would surely appreciate some investment from the only NBA team he's ever known, as would less-guaranteed contributors like Landry Shamet and Mohamed Diawara in seeking some security of their own.

Granted, Alvarado's pay-out remains up to him. He's got a player option to look forward to next year, just like Yabusele had, but the $4.5 million that potentially awaits him is noticeably lighter than the nearly-$5.8 million payout that the Bulls now have to mull over.

Should they look to add help over the course of this ongoing season, consider this as breathing room when the buy-out market starts heating up in the coming weeks, as well as a bigger gap between the Knicks' payroll and the dreaded second apron should they look into any offseason maneuvering.

While Terry, nor Yabusele, for that matter, never fully-formed their rotational fits at their last stops, Alvarado is a pure win-now piece who knows exactly how to make an immediately-positive impact. He's not a demanding threat to crack New York's starting-five, but no one else on the team can match his defensive tenacity and quietly-productive perimeter skills.

Alvarado's spent five years in the NBA as a functional ball-mover and shooter, and now provides some much-needed alleviation to the defensively-needy guard room following Miles McBride's lower-leg surgery. He may not be the sexiest trade deadline maneuver that New York's ever pulled off, but pulling a competent role player out of fringe assets like Yabusele and Terry is an abject win.