James Dolan wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t want to go into the second apron.
Four days after the Knicks won their first NBA title in 53 years, Dolan went on WFAN for the second time in as many weeks and started to plateau expectations for keeping his championship-winning team together.
“We cannot go into the second apron,” the team owner said June 17. “We’re willing to stretch, but there’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron.”
Friday could be the first indicator of how much the Knicks plan to spend this summer. The team pushed reserve guard Jose Alvarado’s deadline for his $4.5 million player option from Monday to Friday, according to The Athletic, to allow the Knicks to go through the draft before adding more money to next season’s payroll.
The Knicks won the NBA Finals with a payroll of roughly $207 million this past season, which was the second highest in the league. Going into the second apron limits the transactions the Knicks can make and the free agents they could sign, but it becomes a bigger issue if it turns into a multiyear stay instead of a one-year blip.
