Back-to-back daily Notes posts are all you need to know to start believing the season is right around the corner, starting with Monday’s media day. Can’t wait!
- Karl-Anthony Towns’ contract situation remains the biggest storyline entering Knicks training camp. SNY’s Ian Begley reported the Knicks and Towns have remained in regular contact throughout the offseason, with discussions described as positive and the organization making clear it wants Towns in New York long term. However, no agreement is imminent.
- Salary-cap expert Yossi Gozlan told Begley that extending Towns, Hart and McBride while also planning for future Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby extensions will require difficult financial decisions unless the salary cap rises faster than projected or James Dolan changes his stance on going over the second apron.
- ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon believe the two sides remain far apart financially, with the former saying there’s “tens of millions” separating them and MacMahon suggesting the gap could even be eight figures annually.
- The Knicks’ final roster spot remains one of training camp’s biggest competitions, with Begley expecting veterans Bruce Brown, John Konchar and Ochai Agbaji to battle for a wing spot while Drew Eubanks and James Wiseman compete for the reserve center role. Unless New York sheds salary in a trade (looking at you, Paco), only one of those five veterans is likely to make the standard roster.
- Keeping it Begley, the pundit also expects rookie Tyler Nickel to receive one of the remaining camp spots and believes Kevin McCullar will eventually earn a place on the roster as well.
- Jalen Brunson shared the defining moment that shaped his basketball career during an appearance on the “Things No One Tells You” podcast. His parents told him he could only choose two of three priorities: school, basketball, or a social life. You know what happened next.
- Salty ESPN “analytics pioneer” Dean Oliver isn’t buying the consensus on Brunson’s standing among the league’s elite. While ESPN’s Top 100 panel ranked Brunson No. 6 overall, Oliver said his statistical models place the Finals MVP “around the No. 25 range” and argued New York media attention inflates public perception.
“I love Brunson’s game, but his lofty ranking benefitted not only from recent bias but also from the New York media bias. (That bias might also help you forget that Brunson missed the shot in the most iconic image from the Finals, when OG Anunoby swooped in for the putback game-winner to clinch Game 4.)
“The metrics place Brunson around the No. 25 range heading into the season. That’s not a huge gap. He’s elite, just not No. 6 — at least not during the regular season.”
- Stephen Curry has agreed to a two-year, $116 million extension with the Warriors that includes a player option for the 2028-29 season. Curry, set to turn 39 midseason, still had one year left in his deal, meaning he could get to complete a nicely rounded 20-season career in The Bay if he retires at the end of his next pact.
- Greg Oden admitted he never expected to be selected ahead of Kevin Durant in the 2007 NBA Draft and actually wanted to return to Ohio State.
- North Macedonia great Pero Antić can only joke about making the Rising Stars Challenge at age 31. “I was already a falling star. Everyone was laughing, including my mom and dad.”
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