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Only a year ago, Mike Brown began the regular season by juggling his starting five. Mitchell Robinson was set to enter the first unit but was load managing, so the Knicks platooned. Sometimes, a center would start in Robinson’s stead; other times, it would be a shooter. Landry Shamet would start or Miles “Deuce” McBride would close. Josh Hart was never the fifth player originally. Hart struggled with a reserve role, which Brown noticed, amending his first unit in November and then riding that group — which included Hart — to a title. “You could say it’s like trial and error,” Jalen Brunson said. “He’s not afraid to go out there and just try things, and if things don’t work, then we’re gonna figure something out. But he’s always willing to seek suggestions, seek help and figure out what’s the best way to actually prepare a team.”
Of the three Knicks who did not get their desired contract extension heading into the season, Miles McBride’s long-term future with the team is the most at risk. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, opened up about the team shutting down all extension negotiations. “No doubt, he would love to get that,” Bartelstein said on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “But at the end of the day, you work for the Knicks and it takes two sides to get a deal done. And if the Knicks aren’t ready to do extensions right now, then we just gotta buckle up and go have a great season. He’ll be a free agent this summer, but we’ll see. We’ve got a great relationship with [president] Leon [Rose] and the front office. We’ll see: there may be opportunities during the season, maybe in the near future. Who knows where we’ll be able to have those conversations.”
McBride has not been as pointed as Karl-Anthony Towns about the negotiations, but he did make it clear that he felt he deserved an extension before the Knicks shut down talks. “We’ve spoken to the Knicks throughout the summer,” Bartelstein said. “Miles, like any player in his position, would love to get an extension. I think he’s earned it. He’s been a huge part of where that organization has gone over the last three or four years. He’s been their sixth man. A lot of people don’t realize how hurt he played last year in the playoffs. He had abdominal surgery that caused him to miss a couple of months. He came back and he wasn’t really right yet, but he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be there for his teammates.”
Miles McBride is set to make just under $4 million in the final year of his contract this season and will be in line for a dramatic raise if he hits free agency next summer. Operating under owner James Dolan’s demand to stay under the second apron, it will be extremely difficult for the Knicks to have all five starters on big contracts and still have space left over to give a significant contract to a bench player. That makes Miles McBride the most likely trade candidate on the roster before the Knicks potentially lose him for nothing in the summer.
Shams Charania: The New York Knicks are tabling all contract extension talks, per team spokesperson: "As an organization, our entire focus is on preparing for the upcoming season and delivering another year for our fans to be proud of. As a result, we will not be negotiating contract extensions until later in the season and will remain solely focused on preparing for the start of the season."
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Bobby Marks: New York has 4 players eligible for an extension: - Karl-Anthony Towns - Josh Hart - Miles McBride - Tyler Kolek The deadline to extend is June 30
Towns, who has a $61 million player option for next season, is eligible for a four-year, $276 million extension. The Knicks have offered Towns a new deal around $200 million in total, according to league sources who were granted anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations. Hart, who has a team option for net year, is eligible for an extension worth around $132 million over four years. McBride is playing on the final year of his contract. Kolek is still on a rookie deal.
It seems unlikely at this point that the Knicks will agree to extensions with Towns, Josh Hart or Miles McBride before the regular season. There is clearly a gap between what the Knicks are offering Towns and what he’s looking for.
The hottest topic out of New York Knicks training camp does not have to do with rings. It’s not about a starting five transforming from clunky to harmonic, emerging stardom or the wreckage the defending champs left behind them during one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history. Instead, it’s about contracts. Four Knicks — Towns, Miles McBride, Hart and Kolek — are eligible for extensions. Hart said Monday he does not expect one to get done. McBride is not close to receiving one, league sources told The Athletic. Kolek is lower on the list of priorities. And then there’s Towns, the six-time All-Star who threw the team over his back and hauled them to the finish line throughout parts of the 2026 postseason.
“We’re gonna face a lot of adversity and challenges throughout the course of the year,” coach Mike Brown said on Wednesday. “I addressed the group on that. I addressed individuals on that. There will probably be a time and place that I talk to [McBride] because he’s human, we’re all human, and we all want what’s best not just for ourselves but for our family as well as the organization, too. That’s a nice balancing act. But at the end of the day, he wants to be here, we want him to be here, and that’s something that I have faith in [president] Leon [Rose] and even Deuce’s representatives to figure that out.”
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Ian Begley: Miles McBride on contract extension: “I love New York… I want to continue my career here … and end my career here.” Says he’ll let his agency and Knicks front office handle any extension talks
“I love being in New York. Obviously, I’ve been here my whole career,” McBride told the Daily News on Friday. “I’m a little — I’m a little disappointed. Of course, you want to obviously come to the right terms, and I want to be in New York. So yeah, it’s a little hard at times, but I’m gonna be a professional. I want to go out and do my job. So that’s in my ability, and to help the team win for as long as I’m with the team.”
“I always felt as soon as [a] basketball touched my hands, I was gonna somehow make it to the NBA,” McBride said. “And I feel like you have to be not delusional in a sense, but you have to have this different self-belief to achieve great things. And I always had this positive mindset that I could do it if I just put the work in. So honestly, from the day I started playing basketball, I had a belief that I could make it to the NBA.”
