I think there is zero chance KP balks at an offer from us unless we lowball him. The max off a rookie contract has never been turned down in league history and he's coming off an ACL injury as a big man. It just isn't a real concern imo.
I don't know how the negiotiations are going to look until he plays the tail end of the season and shows us what he can do. But the front office doing in their power to accrue assets and jettison players that don't want to be here seems to be the right move. Rather than let go of Joakim at the very last minute, the Knicks can advertise to the league that they are now sellers of cap space in the summer of 2019 in the summer rather than looking to accrue it. And the earlier the other 29 teams know, the better the Knicks and the other 29 teams can work out deals that may prove beneficial to the Knicks not just by the summer of 2019, but also by the trade deadline in February.
People got outraged about Ron Baker making less than that amount and he actually saw play time and was effective at times this season before the injury. That 5% may be small, but for a team looking to maximize the space available before all the young guys come up for extensions, that is meaningful. It can be the difference between offering some a max or a near max.
This is New York. People get outraged over everything that is related to the Knicks. The team was in no position to offer anything of note to any free agent this past summer, with or without Baker's contract. That was just much ado about nothing by the fans and the press. We are still eating it from Melo's no trade clause and Baker's contract was the least of our ankle weights last season.
I agree perception matters, but outside the outrageous way we handled Melo's exit, we've treated players right when getting rid of them in the past. I also think Noah's case is less sympathetic than most considering he was vastly overpaid, chronically injured, suspended for PEDs, and fought with a coach.
Actually, Noah gets far more sympathy than Melo. He signed with a team where management, representation and player came together to work out a role, how the player was going to contribute and how this role was to evolve in an organization. He got hurt, he rehabbed back into shape. His suspension for PEDs not withstanding (and I don't think a fan would hold him accountable for trying to get back on the court faster), his confrontation with the coach was on the coach. Hornacek put hands on him, from multiple reports.
We have legitimate reason to look out for our own best interests in this matter and that absolutely means maintaining as much cap flexibility as possible. If KP is somehow possibly on the fence about foregoing a max extension coming off an ACL and how we handle the 2019 FA then maintaining that flexibility I think shows we're not just in it for the now, but the long term. If we do stretch Noah and strike out then we have dead cap for 3 years, but if we strike out in FA and don't stretch then we deal with him the final year and entering the next with more space.
See that's what we disagree on. I think the Knicks's best interest is to advertise that they have cap space to sell throughout the year rather than stretching Noah wily nily and hold whatever is left of his career hostage, on the happenstance that a good player will come to us on free agency. If I was a free agent, I'd stay far away from the Knicks just on the account of how Noah is being treated. However, if the Knicks can move Noah's bills off the books, then even with Kanter and other expiring deals still on the books till the end of the year, the Knicks would have some room under the cap that allows greater degrees of movement before the deadline.