LeBron James could be on the move this summer if Cleveland can’t win the NBA Finals. Could the New York Knicks be his destination of choice? Not a chance.
The 2018 offseason is one full of star wings looking for new contracts. LeBron James is one of these, and could very well be seeking a new city to call home after the up and down season he has had this year.
For seven straight years, and closing in on eight, LeBron’s presence on a team has meant a guaranteed route to the NBA Finals. When he was on the Miami Heat, they got to four in a row and won two championships. In Cleveland with the Cavaliers, it was three more, one of which came with another ring to add to his collection.
The New York Knicks are historically one of the NBA’s great cities. As a monster market with a rich history, they are always in contention to nab stars in free agency. For the upcoming offseason, this will not be enough to get a real shot at a superstar.
There are a couple of reasons why they do not have any chance of getting LeBron James in the summer of 2018. Maybe in the future, they will have a shot, once Knick savior Kristaps Porzingis grows even further and the roster rounds out a bit.
For now, they will not be one of the teams lucky enough to get consideration as a destination for James. Here’s why …
Personnel
The Knicks are years away from being where they need to be in order to legitimately contend for a championship. Even with LeBron James, it would be rough getting the young Knicks deep in the playoffs.
James is 33. He needs to get to the Finals every possible year for the rest of his career if he is to continue chasing Michael Jordan’s ghost. New York does not offer this on-court success that other destinations such as Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and even Cleveland do.
Porzingis is a special player, but he is still young, inexperienced, and injury-prone. While he would be a great second fiddle on both sides of the floor for LeBron, there is not much else. Frank Ntilikina is so far away from his prime. He is, at this moment, not even necessarily a positive on the floor.
The Knicks have an incoming pick this year, but that doesn’t move the needle when it comes to trying to take on the game’s best player. Many rookies do not make positive impacts when they first enter the league, and a pick at nine or 10 this year likely won’t be any different.
Other players on the roster don’t really make the apple very shiny, either. Courtney Lee is a good rotation player, but not a player that can make a significant playoff impact as of now. The same goes with Trey Burke, Kyle O’Quinn, and Enes Kanter. The roster is simply sub-par, which is the last thing LeBron will want to deal with after the experience he is having in Cleveland right now.
Every night of these playoffs, James is doing absolutely everything a human can handle. If he has the choice to play where he doesn’t need to take over every night and exhaust himself, he will. The Knicks don’t offer that now, and won’t for years to come. Maybe New York can be his swan song in his next chapter.
Roster Inflexibility
New York is in a tough spot when it comes to their contract situations. LeBron James is obviously a maximum contract player, and that should come as no surprise to anybody. For the time being, a maximum contract for LeBron signed through free agency would come at around $35 million dollars for the 2018-19 season. This is worth every penny, but can the Knicks feasibly make that happen?
James is currently on a deal signed in 2016, in which he would make $100 million over three seasons with a player option in the third year, next year. It is also just under $36 million in 2018-19. Theoretically, LeBron could accept the player option and force a trade.
However, the Knicks don’t have significant assets outside of Kristaps, Ntilikina, and their pick this year that would facilitate a trade. But what’s the point of trading your assets to get LeBron if there won’t be anyone for him to roll with once he’s yours? The Knicks would also need to dump salary in order to sign LeBron. Their contracts that need to be shed are horrendous.
Joakim Noah is not with the team, but still will make $18.53 million next season. Enes Kanter makes $18.6 million. Tim Hardaway Jr. makes $17.3 million. That right there is $54.4 million given to two players that don’t make positive impacts in Noah and Kanter and a player that has a hard time staying on the court and playing well in Hardaway Jr. These contracts are very difficult to ship to a new team, especially Cleveland.
Cleveland is in a position similar to the Knicks, where players are extremely overpaid for their production. They are not going to take back any of those contracts without sweeteners. But like we already know, why trade the very pieces that would make LeBron want to come to NY in the first place?
Through free agency, LeBron could straight-up sign with New York, but that means a different team is taking on those awful contracts in a cap space environment that is very tight in 2018. There is no functional path of making the Knicks desirable and affordable at the same time for the success LeBron would require next season.
Due to a roster not ready to win, and several contracts that need talent attached to get rid of them, LeBron will quickly table the offer to play with the Knicks. In short, The Knicks are a fun Cinderella candidate to get the King this summer, but in reality, there is no shot that LeBron will sign in the Garden in NY.
The Silver Lining
Just because The Knicks won’t get LeBron in 2018 doesn’t mean that the Knicks won’t ever get a chance.
LeBron is well known for making his basketball decisions with incredible awareness. He is going to decide exactly where he wants to play, for how long, and whether or not he wants a player option. Assuming that he will demand a player option in order to give himself as much power as possible, he may very well be a free agent once again in 2020 or 2021.
If this is the case, and he succeeds during a two or three-year stay on a contender, New York might look appetizing to enjoy a last hurrah in the Big Apple.
LeBron has already expressed love for the Garden very often, and he even called it his “favorite playground” earlier this year.
It’s possible that two or three years from now the young talent on the Knicks grows a lot and Kristaps becomes a full-fledged superstar. With coach David Fizdale now in charge as well, the system could be modern and effective, and maybe LeBron will try to get NY a ring.
It probably won’t happen since the Knicks will still be so young, but you never know what LeBron is going to do next.