The New York Knicks’ first championship in 53 years came in such dominant fashion, fans are quickly turning towards the next one, with all but Mitchell Robinson returning and the season under two months away.
Their oldest rotation piece is 31-years-old and the front office can realistically keep them in place for at least the next two seasons, so their championship window remains open.
Although the league bolstered up and these guys aren’t exactly young, they only hit their peak during last year’s playoff run and it’s possible their ceiling is even higher. Just how long can New York keep this core team together and competitive?
Leon Rose and team have already suffered a loss in keeping under the second apron, as Robinson left for the Boston Celtics with the Knicks unable to match their offer. On the bright side, they locked in Jose Alvarado and Landry Shamet for the next three seasons, and Mikal Bridges is under contract for that long as well.
New York’s immediate concerns are Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, and Miles McBride. Towns has a $61 million player option for next year but fans are hoping he and the Knicks can come to terms on a fair extension before the season following a legendary postseason run.
A team-friendly deal in the $50 million a year range, short of his near-$70 million max, would lock him up well past his prime and help the Knicks duck the apron in the years to follow. The alternatives would be losing a key starter or trading Towns before he could flee in free agency.
Hart has a team option for next season at $22.3 million, but just became extension eligible. The Athletic reports a likely three-year offer in the range of $20 million per year, which tracks with offering long-term security at a lower price to maintain this aging roster.
The league could throw gaudier numbers Hart’s way, but the Jalen Brunson connection makes a departure hard to imagine. His skillset and culture-setting are perfect for this team, which makes every dollar worth it even if his game starts to slip towards the back end.
New York Knicks guard Miles McBride (2) reacts with guard Jalen Brunson (11) and guard Mikal Bridges (25) against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first quarter during game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena / Kyle Ross – Imagn Images
McBride is a different story, as he and the Knicks didn’t reach an extension before the deadline, setting him up to his free agency this summer. Teams are likely to throw valuable role player numbers at him after New York all but swindled him the past few seasons, so retaining him would make retaining the rest of their rotation near impossible.
It would make sense for the Knicks to shop him this trade deadline to teams interested in picking up his bird rights in exchange for somebody still on their rookie scale or a similarly priced deal. If not, they run the risk of losing him in free agency, though seem to have their backup plans in Tyler Kolek and Jack Kayil (who will play overseas during the 2026-27 season).
Barring catastrophe here, the Knicks can keep their non-McBride minutes the same and continue competing through the next two seasons. They’d have a starting five of 32- and 33-year-olds, but can still keep the math working for even longer.
The assumption is Brunson inks a max extension with New York ahead of time, setting him up to make over $70 million a year starting in 2028-29. This is why the front office needs to pinch pennies with every extension so far.
OG Anunoby‘s final year player option also hits in 2029 at $48 million. The magic annual number to keep the party going is somewhere below that – $45 million should work but $40 is even better.
This third year out is the tightest with Brunson’s and potentially Anunoby’s extensions kicking in. If Towns insists on closer to $60 million, or any of the others want bigger bumps, this plan goes awry quickly.
It’s possible this team isn’t worth keeping together past that point as they start to show their wear-and-tear or naturally drift apart like other “superteams.” In that case there’s little to worry about here as the Knicks would just pivot, retool or rebuild.
But if it still looks like they could win, they just need to extend Bridges at the $40 million his contract ends on and reload the bench, and they could theoretically keep this team going for the next five seasons. It’s hard to imagine them wreaking havoc for that long, but many didn’t imagine them winning a championship in the first place.
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