The Knicks have expanded the Mikal Bridges/Bojan Bogdanovic trade by adding in a sign-and-trade of Shame Milton to Brooklyn, which is a clever bit of salary cap management by New York that frees it up to make future moves.
The news of the expanded trade and Milton going to Brooklyn was broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Sources: The Knicks are signing-and-trading Shake Milton as part of Mikal Bridges/Bojan Bogdanovic trade to the Nets, who will also send Keita Bates-Diop to New York. Milton will sign a three-year, $9 million contract, with over minimum in year one and two non-guaranteed years.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 4, 2024
This was such a smart move by Knicks management because it gets them out of a hard cap at the first tax apron. Fred Katz explains it well at The Athletic.
The original construction of the trade (Bojan Bogdanović and a haul of draft picks for Bridges) entailed the Knicks sending out more money than they took back, which would have hard capped them at the $178.1-million first apron. Had the Knicks not edited the exchange, their payroll would have been only $5 million shy of that number, which they could not have exceeded under any circumstances. Flexibility would have scrunched.
Now, it won’t.
Give the Knicks front office its due, they have played this offseason well.
The Knicks are not going into the second apron, but now have about $15 million in cap room to add to the roster as needed. Katz predicts the Knicks will use some of that money to re-sign center Precious Achiuwa, who played well for them last season. The Knicks will start Mitchell Robinson at center and right now have Jericho Sims as his backup, adding Achiuwa makes sense as they try to fill the hole left by the exit of Isaiah Hartenstein to Oklahoma City.
