How The Luxury Tax Will Shape The Knicks Team Building This Year And Beyond

How The Luxury Tax Will Shape The Knicks Team Building This Year And Beyond

welcome into the lockon Nicks podcast today we’re going to teach you about the luxury tax and the implications it has for the Knicks team building you are locked on Nicks your daily New York Nicks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you are locked on Nicks your daily New York Knicks podcast I want to thank you for making locked on Nicks your first listen today and every day B we are now available on all platforms so be sure to check us out on YouTube hit that subscription button hit that notifications Bell to ensure you never miss an episode and then when you’re on the go hit the Auto download function on your podcast platform of choice to make sure we’re with you at all times I know that sounds a little creepy but just wait till you hear who we are I’m Gavin shell your favorite play-by-play broadcaster’s favorite play byplay broadcaster uh in the midst of a very busy season uh helping me out with that he is Alex Wolf editor-in chief of the Strickland the greatest Nicks website in the whole wide you can check them out on all forms of social media at the strict. land and Alex this is your area of expertise I’m going to leave the floor to you uh we are going to explain uh what the luxury tax is and uh why it could pretty dramatically affect what the Knicks do this summer and in future Summers but also why some relief might be coming also good to see you buddy it’s been nice to see you too uh so so yeah I just I just concluded a couple episodes the other day uh which if you haven’t listened already I went over over all the contracts that are well so I should say every player that was playing for the Knicks this year I went over their contract situation so the guys that are sticking around uh you know for sure in like the dewick brides of the world the Dante D venzo Josh Harts uh even Mitchell Robinson who has two years left on his deal went over the the guys that have Team options like bogdanovich um couple Enda bench guys then of course Jaylen Brunson Julius Randle both up for extensions this year um and the free agents o anobi and Isaiah hartenstein being the the top ones among those guys and then I sort of ran out of time and I wanted to talk about the luxury tax a bit so I figured this would be better to talk about together anyway because it’s sort of a philosophical team building question of whether the Knicks should be okay entering the luxury tax this year now I think it’s pretty much a given they’re going to at least become a taxpaying team uh what’s a little less certain is if they’re going to hit these new itive first and second aprons that the NBA has instituted with their new CBA uh collective bargaining agreement for those of you that don’t know the term uh which basically is like the charter of the league for X number of years until they decide to rewrite it again and make rules that you know sort of are related to keeping competitive balance but also just the nitty-gritty of it is it it talks about the salary cap how money gets distributed to teams and blah blah blah at its at its you know most basic level but so to just give a intro to what this the luxury tax is so basically in its purest sense the luxury tax is a number where if you’re spending x amount of dollars above the salary cap limit uh then you have to pay a tax to the league essentially for saying like hey if you’re going to be spending this much money on your players and whatever you’re going to you know pay out the nose for it because we want to incentivize you know there to be competitive balance between small and large markets in the league uh so this past year the tax was set at 165 million uh and that was with the salary cap being 136 million and so then there was the apron lines were 172 million for the first apron and 182 million for the second apron which are the more punitive lines after that so those numbers are going to go up this year uh the salary cap itself is going to be 141 million or at least it’s projected to be that this year so Jake fiser uh from Yahoo sports who’s pretty plugged in had the second apron line estimated at 190 million uh for this coming season in a recent article so I was just kind of doing a little bit of like napkin math and realized like man the Knicks are going to be kind of in danger of hitting potentially both these lines uh because if Isaiah hartstein signs the maximum deal he can with the Knicks which as I outlined in the last episode was four years 72 a. half million uh his starting salary would be around 16.2 million and then if Oobi signs a deal that averages out to around 35 million annually his first year would be around 31 million before raises give or take so that’s already 37 million that the Knicks would be committing just between those two guys uh then they already have about 145 million on the books if they guarantee boan bogdanovich so if again just napkin math wise you’re already looking at probably dipping into the first apron and being real close to the second apron if you do something like resign precious auua for like $10 million a year or something like that you’re probably touching that second apron and reaching a point where things get real real icky real fast uh as far as what you’re able to do to keep building your team so I’ll just give these just give the the restrictions real quick to kick in with both those aprons Gavin and then before we kind of start getting into the team building philosophy I’ll let you react to that but uh the first apron what happens if you hit that which again if the second apron is figured to be about 190 million uh it’s a so it’s 7 million over the tax line for the first apron and then 17 and a half million over the tax line for the second apron so that would figure that the second a or the first apron would be about uh 179 A5 million uh so if you hit hit that first apron salary matches And Trades must be 110% of the outgoing salary rather than 125% for non-t tax teams so fiser said 100% in his most recent article that I pulled that 190 million uh figure from but every other place I find says 110% so I’m gonna guess that was a typo um but that that plays out big for the Knicks because if they go to make a star trade if they’re under the tax or if they’re under that first apron I should say then they can send out um you know so if they send out 40 million in salary then they can get back 50 million in salary because they can get back 125% whereas that then now if you send out 40 million in salary over that first tax apron then you can only receive back 44 million in salary you you can only go 10% over whereas normally you could get 25% more back um they can acquire players in sign in trades if incoming salary keeps them above the first apron at that first apron and they can’t sign players waved during the regular season if their salary prior to being waved exceeded the mid-level exception uh before they were cut which is the mid-level exception this past year was about 12 million that’s what Dante Devan chenzo signed for um and it it figures to probably be slightly more than that so if a player’s making like 13 million next year or over 13 million and gets cut then he wouldn’t be able to silent the Knicks uh second apron gets way more punitive so in the second apron the Knicks can’t or the Knicks or any team can’t use their mid-level exception anymore at all meaning they can basically only sign minimum salary players until they’re under the second apron again uh which I guess I should note I think I missed it on the first one but in the uh first apron you can only sign players for $5 million uh using your mid-level exception so you only get a small amount of money you can use second apron you straight up can’t use that at all uh then if you’re in the second apron three out of five seasons your first round pick automatically moves to the end of the first round so there’s a lot of talk about how because these really punitive changes kick in this year so there’s a lot of talk about how teams like the Celtics uh obviously the Clippers who have been spending tons of money for years like you might only get like a two-year window now to try to capitalize on the best version of your team before you have to essentially sell the team off for parts and draft picks and you you know opt to have your draft pick not be at the end of the round especially if you have a team that’s sort of underachieving uh and getting paay tons of money it’s it’s gonna make things really difficult for those teams shout out to my sons yeah you go yeah the suns are gonna be a big one for this uh first rounders seven years out can’t be traded uh which is a big deal for teams that love to leverage their draft picks maybe not quite so big of a deal for the Knicks who own all their own draft picks plus some extras right now uh salaries cannot be aggregated or combined to to trade for a single higher salary player that is huge potentially for the Knicks if they hit this second apron because then it essentially means they would need to find matching salaries if they want to get say a uh Devin Booker something who makes like $50 million you can only trade salaries one for one at that point that makes things really tough uh they can’t use trade exceptions from the prior year and they can no longer use cash in trades which makes bizarrely almost never do despite having tons of money from James Dolan uh so Gavin I’ll throw to you to react Before we or maybe ouce the next talking point because I’ve been talking for so long there was a lot of a lot of dense info to get into but uh I I my basic thought is that I think the Nicks need to find a way to just stay in the first apron this year one way or the other yeah I’m I’m 100% with you and and I think this is also going to um they’re gonna have to re-evaluate how how they use draft picks because these last few years U it clearly has not been a priority for the Knicks and I think in particular that is stemming from Tom thibo and his reticence to play younger players and invest in younger players and and and look you understand it because the Knicks are getting to a point of being really really competitive but if if they want that to continue and they want that to be sustainable they have to use their draft picks and they’re gonna have to hit on their draft picks um I want to get more into that I also want to get into the implications around Jaylen brunson’s extension H maybe a little talk about Julius randle’s extension and just sort of what the Knicks plan is going forward so we’ll talk about all that next on locked on Nicks but first we’re going to let you all know about our good friends at eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one rid or die you always find exactly what you’re looking for and with e guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the price you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us [Music] customers all right Gavin we’re back in let keep talking through the luxury tax and uh yeah I mean I’m I I’m with what you were saying at the you know at the end of the segment like I do think I think this this year the Knicks are going to have to get comfy with the idea of being a tax team and it it is smart that they’ve managed to avoid it like they’ve taken Great Lengths I think to avoid paying it the last few years like of Dipping into that luxury tax at all so they they’re not going to be a repeater team uh but they might just kind of be one of those teams that has to jump all the way into the deep end right away um I guess part of my confusion with some of this has been and this is like it’s all new territory because they made all these rules kick in and I feel like even the people that cover the league don’t necessarily know this stuff like in as of yet and are kind of learning in real time based off the CBA uh but it’s like when these when these uh restrictions kick in because it’s like I I know for a fact luxury tax bills like what you pay to the league gets calculated at Year’s End um so you know what’ll happen is like that accounts for any trades or whatever during the season and and then like whatever your team’s salary was on the very last day of the Season uh you know as you go into the offseason then they calculate your bill and then you know the Golden State Warriors pay $200 million to the league or whatever and then you call it a day um or the Clippers or the Suns or whoever and you know all the all the tax teams pay their actual tax Bill the thing that I’m slightly more unsure about is if these restrictions kick in after you’ve paid your bill and take effect going into the next dra or if it all happens in real time and if it happens in real time it’s going to get sticky for the Knicks in the off season because like there’s a chance that they hit this first or second apron like within minutes of free agency starting but if not then I I mean maybe there’s a case to just go all out like if this stuff doesn’t get calculated till the end of the season go all out this off season get all the guys you need and all the things that you need to build your team and then roll this season and you know with your big star trade completed with everything and then just be like this is the core We’re Gonna Roll with this for at least a couple years hopefully not hit that second apron and potentially have our first round picks nuked for years to come uh but I I feel like there’s definitely a case for this offseason kind of has to be the one one way or the other because otherwise the the bills are going to add up pretty quick even if Julius Randle and Jaylen Brunson take modest raises on their current salaries yeah I think the the the reality of of the new tax rules and maybe this becomes a little different when the um salary cap makes the jump in in 2025 2026 um you you had the quote in here from Bobby Marx that quote because of the new television contract that begins in 2526 teams expect to see the cap increase annually by 10% so maybe they’re like like you’re betting on there being a gap essentially between that kicking in and the players like factoring that in to their negotiations and of course like the players like themselves are shrewed the agents are shrewed like I and to some extent that’s going to be right away but I think there might be like a small window there where you can strike this balance but overall I don’t think we’re g to see too many more teams going forward like the Kevin Durant Warriors which already took like an all-time salary camp cap flop that was like a one-year Jump Plus Steph being on probably like the single like bar greatest bargain of a contract all time and and Durant just happening to be a free agent that year and the Warriors losing the finals so that was fluky to begin with um or or the heat where you had like the LeBron BOS Wade Trio like take whatever they needed to take to make it work and then just a bunch of really talented vets like a Ray Allen like a Mike Miller um like whoever else they had like agree to take less money but that combination of a team that is extraordinarily topad and able to supplement it with like with very good depth I think that is pretty much gone from the NBA with the lone exception being the current version of the Boston Celtics who right now are striking that balance pretty well um that goes away um not this offseason but next offseason when they have to give Jason Tatum his extension that I I cannot imagine a world where he is not asking for Max money and getting a contract around $300 million or or probably even a bit over 300 $ million but they have their two-year window here to to make it work with this team before they are in uh second apron hell for the rest of the NBA like you’re you’re picking one or two paths either you’re picking the star driven path which I think teams like the nuggets are doing the Bucks are clearly doing and it and it already even before um like the the apron rules fully hit like clearly limited how they could build their team this year where they could just not find like a like a fifth player to pair with like Lopez Dame Chris Middleton and Giannis there there was they were they were a four-person team the Sixers who I think were better off than the bucks but also had that issue and are going to try to get Paul George this year and I think essentially going to make the rest of their team minimum contracts if they pull that off and then you look at a team like the Mavs who I I guess are maybe the closest thing to the Celtics end of the bucket and and that’s probably why both those teams are going to be in the NBA finals or they have Luca and Kyrie but they found options like on the relative cheap that are good and fit with them and then you have the Knicks and the Wolves who are sort of on the other end of the barrel where where they have stars but they’re not making a ton of money yet because I don’t think Anthony Edwards extension kicks in until next season um so he’s currently like not making crazy money and that’s allowed them to pay Nas Reed who’s also way underpaid it’s allowed them to continue to pay Rudy gobear and Carl Anthony towns who are making big money but at some point like the wolves are gonna have to trade off that depth because they do have that star power and I think the Knicks are to finally get to the point are kind of the truest Blue version of what I’m talking about like where they have the depth and they have quote unquote stars but right now Julius Randall and Jaylen Brunson are not really getting paid all NBA type money like like they’re just not getting paid at all all NBA type money they’re making $30 million a year or a little bit under all NBA type money is going to be going forward like minimum 50 million a year probably a lot more with the exception of Jaylen Brunson because he seems willing to take a massive discount for the Knicks right now the report out there is that it would be what like a a fiveyear um $156 million contract if four for uh four for 156 yeah so that’s it’s 39 million a year for for Jaylen Brunson um would she would be giving up 15 million dollars a year and I think that’s because he is acutely aware of just how much it would limit the Knicks to wait the extra year and then the positive trade-off for him is he gets the security signing that versus like risking some kind of traumatic injury not that the Knicks would ever screw over Brunson to that extent but like there is there is a tradeoff for sub security for a smaller guard if he a traumatic injury all that is to say I I think Jaylen Brunson is going to make things work I think my big question going forward is Julius Randall going to be willing to make things work the same way and to be clear like me saying that like isn’t a judgment like I think all these guys should get the maximum amount of money they can I just don’t know at the end of the day that’s going to be on the Knicks for Randall and and I think the question the Knicks are going to have to ask all right if you are going to pay Julius all MBA money is there a better player you could be giving that money to yeah and you know I talked about that in my last episode about about whether Julius Randle might take a discount like that like he did the last time and maybe his last contract is what we can look to for a little inspiration there uh so we’ll talk about that in just a second and close out this discussion talking about how we think the Knicks should go about team building uh going forward all right and we’re back in and Gavin we closed off last segment talking about Julius Randall and how he might be the key and I I’m kind of the belief and you know there hasn’t been any reporting about this just yet but I feel like it might just kind of come out of the blue like it did last time but you know last time Julius Randall was in a contract situation he had just made all NBA for the first time in his career he was on top of the world I mean obviously the the just the like playoff disappointment of 2021 was was real you know like people were like oh you know what did this say about Julius Randall and the Knicks and blah blah blah but I think the general consensus amongst certainly amongst us and amongst most people is like they just need to get him more help like he he you know he he was Transcendent in that 20 to 21 season the rest of the team needed to get better uh to make things easier on him and of course now they are better but Julius said at that time and you know people were like oh he could sign in extension or like you know he could go for uh he could like wait one year and then get way way more money and it’s sort of a similar discussion to what we’re having with Brunson right now and obviously you know things with hindsight you know maybe things worked out better for him to sign that extension then because he had a really terrible year the next year and maybe that would have hurt his for agency but in that moment everybody was kind of shocked that he signed the extension that he did when he did uh it was four years 117 million ion maximum uh if he hit like some bonuses or whatever which I’m fairly certain he did because he made two all NBA or he made an all NBA team and uh multiple all-star teams after that and everything else so I’m fairly certain that he hit those bonuses but you know it sort of took everybody off guard when he signed that deal I there’s a part of me that would not be surprised if he and Brunson basically signed matching contracts and maybe Randall takes what is his max extension this time around but last time he left some money on the table too like he he did not take what his maximum would have been the last time around when he extended instead of waiting for free agency uh Brunson his max extension is like almost 40 million less in total value than Randle so randles would average out to about 46 47 million per season if he signs what his maximum value is it would be upwards of 200 million but I don’t know I mean time will tell but it seems like he’s he’s Allin too like he had quotes straight like a few years ago you know in 2021 being like I just want to help the team win I want to do what helps the team stay flexible and you know build a contender here and I that’s super admirable and probably something that’s been a little under reported with regards to Randall how willing to play ball he’s been to keep this team in a position to continue building year-over-year um and you know again I’m I’m with you I wish that the players didn’t have to make these decisions just based on off of punitive luxury tax uh implications and stuff and could make every cent that they should because quite frankly it’s a league where the owners are all obscenely wealthy and um you know I wish more of that wealth would be going to the players but I I said in the last episode if both Randall and Brunson are willing to play ball and do that and they feel financially stable with their families and everything else to to make that decision then from a fan perspective how you know there’s no way to say no to that and I I think that they probably are tracking towards doing that again yeah and I think I think two two other things to consider there I I just think the Optics of Julius making more than Jaylen are not great and I’m wondering if if Jaylen by and I I think this is something that he knows and something probably that’s been emphasized to him by taking only 39 million a year quote unquote only 39 million a year um I think that shapes the anobi negotiations and next you’re saying like look like we’ll we’ll pay you but like we’re not going to pay you more than Jaylen Brunson and then it’s up to O OG could say all right but the Sixers like want to give me the max um and maybe that’s true maybe they want to give Paul George the max who knows and like and that would get really dicey for the Knicks but I do think if they know that anobi wants to be here and I think just by the fact that they traded for him and his one of his agents is Leon Rose’s son um anobi probably does want to be here and that he was out there on a on a gimpy ham hamstring in game seven um I think he will take a little less than what Jaylen brunson’s making I think Julius Randall to your point will probably ultimately take what Jaylen Brunson is making because the number of teams out there that can afford to pay Julius like more than that and also want to pay Julius more than that there there just aren’t a lot like Oklahoma City is maybe the one you would look at but they’re also like two years away from like having to think about paying all their guys so they would have a very thin window to make that work and they’re just again they’re just not a ton of teams out there throwing around money um maybe Houston if he wanted to go back to Texas that would sort of be something to watch but they have Jabari Smith as their power forward of the future so you could you could find the team and Julius could find the team if he really wanted to I just cannot imagine a situation that he would like as much as New York and maybe that’s maybe that’s worth giving up seven eight million dollars a year for him to pull out um as far as wider implications of this like you you you said it like this becomes the offseason for the Knicks to make their all in move and maybe ultimately makes this irrelevant with Julius because like given what this cap situation is like I would be surprised like either you’re trading away all your depth for a star or I think more logically you’re probably trading away Julius Randall for a star and and that’s what’s like kind of screaming at me in neon lights from all this so maybe maybe the extension conversation wasn’t worth it but I I think it’s I think it is maybe worthy to discuss both paths the Knicks could go down where they keep this current team that I think fully healthy like we’re seeing it right now from Dallas like not that the Knicks are the exact same team but but is probably good enough to win a championship with the parody that’s currently there in the NBA and a recognition from Leon Rose in this front office that parody is going to be the reality going forward um but if they if James Dolan pushes or if Leon Rose like thinks the better structure is around a bigger name I don’t know who that is yet I I can throw some ideas out there um but like this would be the summer to go for it and I think Randall and maybe some some of the tertiary pieces as well are going to be the things that have to move off I don’t know about you Alex like I don’t really see the a way like the Knicks make that type of deal like let’s just like it’s too early for Devon Booker but if Devon Booker was the name without Randall being the guy that is ultimately moved and I’m I’m wondering like maybe that if that guy just isn’t there that summer if the Knicks don’t consider Mel Bridges that guy which I maybe wouldn’t or they don’t consider Paul George that guy like are they forced to wait even if this is the ideal summer to do it yeah I think I think it’s going to limit who they can look at I mean I don’t think I’m I’m with you I don’t think Booker ultimately becomes available but if we want to just use him as the example case like I think the Knicks are gonna have a I think the number one thing that I’m getting through looking through all the salaries and seeing where the Knicks are going to be presumably if they’re paying like Randall Brunson and anobi all 35 Plus million and then have Josh Hart making 20 million and have Dante making 10 um you know obviously you’ve got like deuce at the bottom there to like is the perfect piece who’s just is making like barely anything hopefully you draft a couple players this year um and then you know you’re gonna have hartenstein and Mitch making a combined 30 million presumably uh if you have both of them I I think all it screams to me is like if you’re gonna make a move it’s probably gonna have to be for like Donovan Mitchell uh who makes a relatively affordable for now 35 million like you’re gonna have to try to find a guy that this season is sort of a bargain um and who you can extend further Beyond this year for more money and then say okay next year is the year that we take the fullon leap into the tax and everything else but like next year but by next year I mean 2025 to 26 like this coming year you know stay in that sort of like regular luxury tax Zone and then once all those extensions kick in you’re like this is it like we’re going to see if we can win the whole thing we’re g to pay out the butt for this team for like two years Beyond this coming season and we have like a three-year window essentially to try to win a championship I think that’s get that cap bump too so if there was an Antiquated contract before all this came into play you you end up getting that benefit yeah exactly so and you know honestly like if Brunson and Randall signed to deals to pay them like $38 million or whatever per season uh annual value then you’re already looking at two deals that as the years go on we’ll we look Antiquated because 10% jumps is not insignificant like the only reason it’s only going up 10% each year is because that’s another thing that the league put in place to avoid that Kevin Durant situation with the Warriors that you mentioned where that year the the cap went up by like 50% and one Fell Swoop because the league signed their new TV deal at that time 10 years ago now they just got like it was a lot of money it was I think it was like seven billion per season or something like that um from various TV providers no more TNT it’s going to be I think NBC sports ESPN and Amazon now um that are going to be handling NBA games so I mean that they’re getting a huge influx of money for a long period of time we’re probably GNA see the cap go up 10% for like I don’t know five straight years six straight years maybe uh if the league is honest about it and and how much money that they’re making off this new TV deal um so that might help the Nick in the long term too but I do think like to get back to what I started rambling about a second ago like if you’re going for like a $50 million player this year I think it becomes pretty difficult to get there um and to sign all the all the free agents that you want to resign and all that stuff unless you make that move prior to the new league year starting um I think that there is a chance that like if they think they’re in on like Paul George for example that they would make that decision before free agency like if the Clippers are willing to deal him if George tells them I’m out I’m leaving you know whether I go sign a free agent contract somewhere like the Sixers or not I’m out of here period I would like to go to the Knicks so let’s make that work trade me there you guys can get some assets back in return rather than losing me for absolutely nothing then maybe they play ball and say okay we’ll trade him right before the new league year that helps you guys get this done with regard to the Knicks then we get some stuff back so he doesn’t just leave for nothing um you know then the Knicks could just very quickly opt in boam bogdanovich’s last year they could opt in Jericho Sims they could opt in the option that they have on um dayquon Jeff they could I I’ve been see I’ve seen like mixed stuff on if they’re if they snuck in team options on Shake Milton and if they snuck in team options on diakite the other two guys down the end of the bench but you know maybe you just take that opportunity say Okay opt everybody into their to those deals ship them all to you know probably Mitchell Robinson to unfortunately ship them all to the Clippers get George to opt into his final year of his deal which is worth like just under 50 million and then extend him once he gets to New York because then even if you’re getting higher up in those luxury tax limits the luxury tax doesn’t impede your ability to just retain guys that are on your roster already which then George would be going into the summer so then the Knicks would be able to say okay now we’re GNA extend Paul George we’re gonna extend Jaylen Brunson we’re gonna extend Julius Randall we’re going to uh resign ojan anobi we’re gonna resign Isaiah hartenstein and then maybe at that point you probably say resign precious a Chua too for that big man depth and then you just roll with it and see how it goes um that’s the only way I see the Knicks going for someone that makes that much money now at this point otherwise I think once the new league year turns over and they start signing those new free agent deals and everything it’s going to become a lot more difficult unless they just time it where they say hey OG hartenstein you know whatever just wait a couple weeks to put pen in the paper so that we can get these things done but their cap holds will still exist too so it’s like it I it just becomes so much more difficult I think once the new league year turns over for this to ultimately happen yeah and I think this is maybe a combo for another day because it’s a long one but I think there there’s a world where they look at Mel Bridges even though the cost in terms of like assets that you’d have to give out since he’s not a free agent and Brooklyn really values him would be a lot higher like there’s a world where where that’s the better option given that at least for the next two seasons he is only making $23 million a year so that is that is an incred or sorry 23 million this year 25 million the year after and then he’s an unrestricted free agent and then maybe after that 2526 season if you’re the Knicks that’s when you have to look at either trading Julius Randall or or trading like quite quite a bit of your depth um honestly you’d already have to trade quite a bit of your depth to even to put in the 23 million and to match that and a lot of your picks but the good news is you could you could spin that over in a future year and trade one of the other stars for assets but you’d have a two-year window of contention there where you’re striking that Celtics s balance of of having star power and having depth and and and to me again conversation for down the road that might be the better way to go than going all in on an aging Paul George but again that is a conversation for another day he is Alex Wolf I am Gavin sh we’ll be back with uh plenty more episodes this week and next some cool guests coming up we’re going to talk a little NBA draft um and some more stuff but until then uh we’ll talk to you soon on lock on Nicks [Music] [Music]

Gavin Schall and Alex Wolfe dive deep on the NBA’s new luxury tax rules and how they’ll affect team building this year and beyond.

What does it mean for Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle’s possible extensions? Should the Knicks be built around depth or star power? Are draft picks now more valuable than ever? And how do they dictate their pursuit of either Paul George or Mikal Bridges?

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