Quickley is eligible to receive an extension right now. He has until the day before the regular season begins to sign one. Other first-round picks from the 2020 NBA Draft have signed their rookie-scale extensions already;
Anthony Edwards,
LaMelo Ball and
Tyrese Haliburton are the big names. But Quickley waits, along with the other non-max guys from his class.
Once Quickley signs an extension, he becomes difficult to trade. Pay attention because this is one of those CBA rules that is needlessly complicated. Or, you know, just skip over the next paragraph if you don’t want to think. It’s July, warm and the sun is shining. And thinking is the last thing any of us need right now.
But for those of us sitting inside and pondering about rookie extensions, here’s the problem with trading Quickey after giving him a new contract. If the Knicks extended Quickley and then traded him, his outgoing salary would be his 2023-24 salary: $4.2 million. But his incoming salary would be the average of his 2023-24 salary and each year of the extension.
For example, let’s say Quickley were to sign a four-year, $80 million extension, which would kick in for the 2024-25 season, and then the team decided to trade him while he was still making his $4.2 million salary. That would mean his outgoing salary is $4.2 million but his incoming salary for whichever team is receiving him would be the average of $84.2 million over five years: $16.8 million — which would make matching salaries no easy task.
The easiest way to pull off a trade in this scenario would be to find a third team or to pile up tons of salary in the deal. But those are difficult steps to pull off. And that means it’s only prudent to hold back on a Quickley extension until the October deadline nears — just in case a big-time trade pops up, and the Knicks need to include Quickley in it.
As I reported
in June, they dangled Quickley in trades for prime-aged players earlier in the summer.
Or maybe a trade for a star emerges. The flashiest part of the offseason may be behind us, but this is how the NBA works. When the basketball world is at its quietest, that’s when a superstar says he wants out.
Remember, the Knicks are not treating the Quickley market the same way they did in November when they considered flipping the 24-year-old guard for a good first-round pick. He became too important to them this past season, even after his playoff struggles. So I would say the most likely scenario (and this is opinion; not reporting) is that Quickley begins the season with the Knicks. And if he begins the season with the Knicks, I could see an extension coming. (Again, opinion — not reporting.)
I wrote a story earlier in the summer about
what could be a fair contract for him. A poll of 15 front-office officials landed in the realm of $16 million to $20 million a year in average annual value.
This isn’t the same as the situation in Philadelphia with
Tyrese Maxey, who was in the same draft class as Quickley and probably won’t receive an extension, this summer in part because the 76ers may use cap space next July. Maxey’s cap hold (the amount of money that counts against their books when he is a free agent) is much smaller than his salary would be in an extension — meaning that if they wait until 2024 to pay him, they can have more cap room next summer.
But the Knicks won’t have cap room next year, regardless, so that concept doesn’t come into play.
If they and Quickley don’t agree to an extension, that’s when the questions come about their future together. But it also doesn’t mean their relationship is over. Quickley would be a restricted free agent in 2024, meaning the Knicks could match any offer sheet he signs elsewhere to bring him back for the same price.
theathletic.com
