With the free agent market opening Sunday the Knicks have approximately $70 million in salary cap space available, an enviable position that the franchise worked to put in place. Now, the hard part is getting someone to take their money.
The Knicks are long shots for the services of the top tier free agents but will chase them starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, hoping for meetings to sell the stars on their rebuilding plan. Each day this week we will look at one of those targets and detail how they would fit and why they would _ or wouldn't _ come to Madison Square Garden.
KYRIE IRVING
Upside: Irving has a championship ring from his time in Cleveland and is already a star _ on the court and even in movies. The Knicks haven't had a point guard this good since Walt Frazier, a player who is an All-NBA talent with arguably the best handle in NBA history. He is a six-time All-Star who was named second team All-NBA this season while leading the Celtics with 23.8 points per game. He flourished in a secondary role on the Cavaliers behind LeBron James and is certainly talented enough to be the first option.
Downside: You mean besides the flat earth story? Irving's rep as a player is certainly intact, but his reputation as a teammate didn't exactly flourish in Boston. It's as simple as looking at where the Celtics were in the 2017-18 season, heading to the Eastern Conference Finals without him as he was sidelined with an infection in his knee _ the result of a 2015 fractured kneecap and two screws inserted in the knee. Then with the return of Irving this season, along with Gordon Hayward back after missing the entire 2017-18 season with a broken leg, the Celtics were eyeing a championship. Instead it was a season mired in controversy, one that began with Irving declaring to the fans that he was intending on spending the rest of his career in Boston and ended with both sides seeming happy to run away from each other.
Why the Knicks should sign him: Here's the end all before we get to the reasons that Irving could help _ he could attract Kevin Durant to a team with two max slots. The two reportedly are interested in pairing up. The Knicks would love to have Durant, even if it means he's out of action this season, and the Knicks will be all in on whatever makes that happen. Beyond that though, the Knicks have started to accumulate young players that they believe can be part of the rebuild. Unlike Boston where Irving's arrival and insistence on serving as leader of a team that was pretty good without him, the Knicks are a blank slate and RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson have no clout to resist any of his mentorship. He'd be the best player, the most accomplished player and unchallenged leader.
Why the Knicks should not sign him: First, they may not get the opportunity. Even as his arrival in New York now seems a fait accompli, Madison Square Garden seems like a long shot behind Brooklyn and Barclays Center. No one could blame him _ the Nets were a playoff team last season and while the Knicks want to preach player development, the Nets already have proved to be capable of it. But that culture is an issue with the Knicks. What if Kyrie wasn't just unhappy serving as LeBron James' sidekick in Cleveland and unhappy in the locker room in Boston with a coach who everyone seemed to like and respect before he arrive? What if he derails the Knicks plans before they even start? And the injuries _ let's just say he does recruit Durant and you've got Durant out for a season and a player in Irving who has a history of injuries, some freak accidents and enough that you'd be worried that your cap space for the next four years would be tied up in players who spend more time in ice baths than on the court.
