Knicks are getting budget-conscious at worst possible time

New York Knicks owner James Dolan stayed out of the way while his front office built an NBA champion. Now he's interjecting himself again with predictably bad results.

The Knicks announced Friday that they were pausing all negotiations with their extension-eligible players until later in the season. That threatens to disrupt the team's excellent chemistry and seems directly related to Dolan's commitment to staying out of the NBA's second apron.

New York Knicks leaving extension-eligible players hanging

The most prominent extension-eligible player on the Knicks is starting center Karl-Anthony Towns. He has a $61M player option for 2027-28, and the Knicks have reportedly offered a four-year deal for $200M, well below his four-year, $276M max deal. Starter Josh Hart could also sign an extension, though the Knicks have a team option for 2027-28 worth $22.4M.

Miles McBride can hit unrestricted free agency next summer and seems likely to follow Mitchell Robinson out the door if the Knicks remain averse to the second apron. Complicating matters is that the Knicks would end up in the second apron if Towns were to pick up next year's option, giving them great incentive to lock him in long-term at a lower number — or trade him.

It shouldn't be this difficult. Towns, Hart and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson are all clients of CAA, the agency where Knicks president Leon Rose used to work. The team just won their first championship in 53 years. Yet they're choosing to let the contract situation fester as they begin a title defense.

James Dolan is getting cheap with New York Knicks at worst time

There are certainly limitations to being in the second apron when it comes to building and maintaining an NBA roster. However, the Knicks have already built a championship roster. They've done the difficult part already, and now simply need to find a workable number for Towns between $200M and $276M.

It's a sign that Dolan, who largely stayed in the background before the title run, is stepping into Knicks operations again. He cancelled watch parties during the Finals and ripped the mayor and police commissioner during the Finals, then immediately declared the team wouldn't spend to keep Robinson. Perhaps more troubling is that he's again hired Isiah Thomas, an unmitigated disaster running the team two decades ago.

Maintaining a championship team is exactly why a team should go into the second tax apron, especially when they've just had a wildly lucrative postseason — and raised ticket prices by 12 percent. If Dolan is going to gouge Knicks fans after the title, he and the team shouldn't be asking for discounts from the players who won it all. Especially when this penny-pinching threatens to alienate one-third of the Knicks rotation.