Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. needs surgery for offseason turf toe injury, team says
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Grizzlies All-Star big man Jaren Jackson Jr. will need surgery after suffering a turf toe injury to his right foot while participating in offseason basketball activities, the team announced Tuesday.
Memphis said Jackson is expected to recover fully, adding that a timeline for his recovery will be provided after the surgery.
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The 25-year-old Jackson, a first-round draft pick in 2018, earned his second All-Star selection last season, when he averaged 22.2 points and 5.6 rebounds. He was honored as the NBA's defensive player of the year for 2022-23, when he led the league in blocks at 3 per game.
Jackson is eligible for a contract extension this offseason as the Grizzlies seek to build around him and star point guard Ja Morant. Memphis was swept by eventual champion Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs in April.
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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Diamondbacks ban loyal season-ticket holder after repeated interference incidents
The Arizona Diamondbacks have finally had enough with one of their most loyal fans. Dave McCaskill is a season-ticket holder for his beloved D-Backs and owns an Advantage Membership account, which grants him access to specific events, early postseason ticket access and discounts throughout the ballpark. However, after being involved in yet another fan-interference dilemma, the Diamondbacks banned him for the remainder of the year and terminated his membership account. "This particular fan has been involved in multiple offenses at Chase Field…" the team said in a statement. "This fan will have the opportunity to return to Chase Field in 2026 so long as he meets certain terms and abides by our Fan Code of Conduct." McCaskill reached for a ball that was off the bat of San Francisco Giants third baseman Christian Koss. The ball just missed the outstretched glove of left fielder Tim Tawa. Center fielder Alek Thomas appeared to exchange words with McCaskill, who tossed the ball to Thomas. Thomas then tossed it back up. Koss was initially ruled out, but after review, he was awarded a double, and McCaskill was booted from the ballpark. Recent videos of McCaskill making plays on borderline home run balls resurfaced on social media shortly after the D-Backs' announcement. "I'm a D-Backs fan. I would never want to do anything to hurt the D-backs or to have them lose the game," McCaskill told Fox 10 Phoenix. However, he admitted to being "ejected three times." (He later corrected himself to "technically… twice.") "I caught the ball, came right down, and you see my glove hit the yellow, the top. So I think the ball would have bounced on top and gone over," McCaskill explained. Fans are not allowed to reach over the wall, or the imaginary line directly above it, to catch a ball. But, it is fair game once the ball crosses said imaginary line. Jomboy Media pointed out a total of four instances, with other social media accounts saying he's been involved in five such reviews. "What I can comment on is last night, the play happened, I want the play to play. I want the play to be played out… I want plays to be made by the players," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. McCaskill, according to the New York Post, said he has "followed" notorious ballhawk Zack Hample, who has garnered plenty of controversy throughout his game-attending days. Hample has caught over 10,000 baseballs. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Dennis Schröder's contract with Kings
NBA free agency is moving quickly but a number of key players remain, including a multi-time All-Star rehabbing a torn Achilles. Chris Nicoll / Imagn Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Dennis Schröder has agreed to a 3-year, $45 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, a league source confirmed. The Kings will be Schröder's 10th NBA team and fourth in the last nine months. The common theme in the Rockets' in-house business or their outward acquisitions is experience. Fred VanVleet, Steven Adams and Clint Capela are 31. Dorian Finney-Smith is 32. Kevin Durant is 36. As long as Ime Udoka has been at the helm, his voice within the organization has risen, and the 47-year-old has been vocal about his preference for older veterans. And as such, given the aforementioned alignment with Houston's front office and ownership, the team has fulfilled his wishes. After Houston's Game 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors, Udoka's end-of-season news conference drove home the point about the need for improved IQ and the power of experience, buzzwords that typically precede roster changes. Make no mistake: The Rockets' offseason is off to an excellent start. The overarching theme in negotiations has been maintaining financial leverage, all while building a roster that is built for now and later. The two-timeline approach is risky in a vacuum, but context, mainly personnel, is important. It might not have worked out in the Bay with James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga, but those are different players from Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith, Tari Eason and even Reed Sheppard. Still, it's jarring to see Houston move in this manner, particularly because of how quickly its methodology has shifted. Perhaps that's why it's difficult to quantify the magnitude of its summer business to this point. For years, the Rockets' ethos was patience and perseverance, opting to accumulate losses, build through the draft and maintain enough elasticity to capitalize at an opportune moment. That moment is now. The Rockets have peeled back the curtain on what was once a rebuild, laying out a championship-capable core. Read more on Houston's active start to free agency here. GO FURTHER Rockets want to balance experience with youth, and they're off to a great start Geoff Burke / Imagn Not only is the Jonas Valančiūnas acquisition great on the floor for the Nuggets, it gives Nikola Jokić an old foil for a teammate. Jokić joked about their joint physicality last December, when he scored a career-high 56 points, along with 16 rebounds and 8 assists against the Wizards – and Valančiūnas, who was then in Washington and who spent most of the night in a pitched, hard-nosed but good-natured battle with the Joker. Valančiūnas did just fine as well, with 20 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 assists in an improbable Wizards win. 'I had a couple of really good wrestling moves down there with Jonas,' Jokić said afterward. 'I think Jonas's wrestling, it's always interesting. I always talk to him normally, and it's always a little bit physical. I mean, it should be. We're big boys from Europe. We're kind of used to being in the contact. I think that's how it's supposed to be. Good rivalry.' GO FURTHER Nuggets waste Nikola Jokić's career night in inexplicable loss to woeful Wizards New Knicks signee Guerschon Yabusele is a good player and a good fit that fills a need. He can play the 5 and run next to Karl-Anthony Towns or Mitchell Robinson. Opponents need to guard him beyond the arc. I'm not obsessed with the second-year player option, given the Knicks' potential 2026-27 payroll. But sometimes that's the cost of doing business for a good player. Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn While everyone else is focused on the Bucks right now, the Dario Sarić for Jonas Valančiūnas trade is an absolutely incredible deal for the Denver Nuggets. They just traded $5 million in dead weight to the Sacramento Kings to get the best backup center of the Nikola Jokić era. Denver now is $2.4 million below the luxury tax line with at least on roster spot to fill. If that spot is a veteran minimum deal for $2.3 million, they will just barely stay under the tax and avoid the repeater penalty this year. Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn The Denver Nuggets have acquired Jonas Valančiūnas from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Dario Sarić, team sources confirmed to The Athletic. The Nuggets have had an incredible two days. Getty Images The Bucks made two moves that make sense individually but also raise an eyebrow when looked at collectively. They will pay Myles Turner an average of nearly $27 million per season and will get an above-average starting center for that contract who fits well on a Giannis Antetokounmpo team and should be a very capable replacement for Brook Lopez. They will also stretch-waive Damian Lillard, which means the Bucks will have a $22,516,574 cap charge on their books for each of the next five season. That makes sense too since he was essentially going to be an empty $54.13 million cap hit next season as he rehabbed from a torn Achilles. The last season of that contract was unlikely to be very productive either since he would be 36 and returning in his first season from that injury. The Bucks clearly want to remain competitive next season with Antetokounmpo and that makes sense too since they want to take advantage of his prime, let alone any concerns about losing him down the line. Still, they will now effectively be spending $49 million per season for the last two years on Turner's deal, and have another year of $22.5 million on the books after that. That could be about 12 percent (or more) of the cap in the 2027-28 season, which is more than a nontaxpayer midlevel exception would earn. We shall see if this set of moves will be worth it. Getty Images This is why I criticized the Pacers for taking Andrew Nembhard's salary from $2 million to $18 million for 2025-26 when they didn't have to in his extension last summer. It set the Pacers up to be way into the luxury tax, and you know when it came down to it that Indiana would blink rather than pay it. Keeping Myles Turner on the books for this year at $24 million would have been no sweat if Nembhard was still on his cheap rookie deal, but the Pacers turned the final year of it into a much bigger salary. That extension looked extravagant at the time — $56 million in new money for just two years — and despite Nembhard's playoff heroics, the Pacers are paying the price for it now. GO FURTHER The NBA offseason's most under-scrutinized moves, from Immanuel Quickley to Max Christie One thing you gotta hand to the Bucks: Any time it seems they need to operate with urgency to show a multi-time MVP they're trying to build a contender, they do it. In terms of the cap mechanics of how Milwaukee will pull this off: Waive and stretch Damian Lillard. Sign Tauren Prince with the minimum exception. Sign Gary Trent Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. into the room exception. Right now, that leaves Milwaukee with $19.6 million in cap room. They likely will get to the $24 million they need to sign Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million deal by moving off of Pat Connaughton's $9.3 million salary. In the absence of a Connaughton trade, Milwaukee can get to $24.6 million in cap room by stretching Connaughton's contract, so that seems the most likely mechanism for this deal to get done. Milwaukee will also need to either pull its qualifying offer to Ryan Rollins or waive Chris Livingston to get there. It appears the Bucks will just barely exceed the limit on stretched salary if they stretch Connaughton in addition to Lillard, unless there is a buyout agreement with one or both to reduce salary. Another alternative may be to trade Connaughton for a lower-salaried player and then buy that player out at a reduced number. For instance, Milwaukee could trade Connaughton to the Clippers for Drew Eubanks, buy Eubanks out at half of his $4.75 million presuming he'd make the rest up on the market, and stretch that amount. Also, note that Lillard cannot re-sign in Milwaukee in 2026, if you were thinking that was a possibility. I'm legitimately SHOCKED. I didn't even know the Bucks were an option for Myles Turner. That's a huge loss for the Pacers. It's gonna be awfully tough to compete with a $23 million dead cap hit for each of the next five years in Milwaukee. No, I don't mean Kyle Kuzma, either. The Bucks waiving and stretching Damian Lillard will leave that money on their books for half a decade, and it can't be traded or otherwise maneuvered off the books. Bucks general manager Jon Horst has always been aggressive in the moments when his team has needed to make a big move and keep Giannis Antetokounmpo in a competitive situation. Damian Lillard tearing his left Achilles tendon in Game 4 of their first-round series appeared to be a blow that would keep the Bucks from being able to keep Milwaukee in conversation for a contending spot in the Eastern Conference. But Horst once again surprised the whole league with an impressive maneuver to acquire Myles Turner, a highly talented replacement for center Brook Lopez, and reconfigure the Bucks' roster for a chance to once again compete for homecourt in the Eastern Conference. It also helps that he stole an important piece from the team that just represented the East in the NBA Finals. The Bucks' move to waive Damian Lillard, while shocking on the face of it, is a reprieve of sorts for the 34-year-old, who can now rehab his Achilles with no clock, knowing he'll likely be a top free agent target in the summer of 2026 and free to play wherever he wants. While there were high hopes for a Dame-Giannis partnership when the Bucks acquired Lillard just before the start of training camp in 2023, the on-court product never meshed as well as everyone thought it would. Two Achilles injuries to star point guards led to Myles Turner changing teams within the division. The Milwaukee Bucks will waive guard Damian Lillard as part of their effort to free up enough cap space to sign center Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract, team sources confirmed to The Athletic on Tuesday. Lillard, who is slated to miss most of next season because of a torn Achilles, was slated to make $113 million over the next two seasons. That amount will now be stretched over the next five seasons. GO FURTHER Bucks waiving Damian Lillard to make room to sign Myles Turner: Sources Brook Lopez's addition leaves the Clippers with one player left to fill a second unit spot with their existing roster. LA has multiple playable centers in Ivica Zubac and Lopez. They have multiple wing defenders in Kawhi Leonard and Nicolas Batum. They have multiple point of attack defenders in Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. The Clippers have multiple on-off ball shooters in Norman Powell and Bogdan Bogdanović. And James Harden and Kawhi Leonard are the two stars. Harden just needs a true backup point guard. At the top of my list at the point guard position is perhaps the greatest Clipper ever, and that's Chris Paul. The drawbacks with Paul are obvious: he's a 6-foot 40-year-old who has played 20 NBA seasons. But the Clippers have the longest active streak of consecutive winning seasons at 14 years, and that streak started with Paul's arrival to the franchise in 2011 and continued after Paul was traded in 2017 to Harden's Rockets. While Paul was with the Clippers, both Tyronn Lue and Lawrence Frank were assistant coaches under Doc Rivers. Steve Ballmer bought the team in 2014, midway through Paul's tenure. Paul also happened to visit Intuit Dome for Game 3 against the Nuggets, sitting next to Disney CEO Bob Iger (you see, a potential networking opportunity for Brook Lopez if it comes together). It helps that Paul can still play. Paul just started all 82 games for the San Antonio Spurs last season, averaging 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 3s while shooting 37.7 percent on 3s and 92.4 percent on free throws. The only player older than Paul in NBA history who started all 82 games in a season was John Stockton, and Stockton didn't play 20 NBA seasons. Like Lopez, Paul would be brought in to be a backup to one of LA's most important players, theoretically dropping his minutes to around 20 per game at most. Paul would bring what the Clippers need most based on their weakness from last season offensively, and that's a player who can take care of the basketball. And while Paul's age and size makes him a defensive liability, he still has a nose for the ball. Read more here. Page 2
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
LeBron James trade fits: Cavs, Warriors, Mavericks and more possibilities
LeBron James will play basketball next season. But for whom? The Los Angeles Lakers are the clear leaders. James picked up a $52.6 million player option over the weekend, which could have inspired little analysis if not for the cryptic statement that followed. Now, an awkward situation would make anyone wonder — how would the league react if the best player of his generation, if not of any generation, became available? After all, this is the NBA, where it's always worth monitoring two entities with diverging philosophies. Advertisement At 40 years old, James wants to win, and win now. Meanwhile, the Lakers just bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. They are still without a center and lost Dorian-Finney Smith in free agency. They have made it clear, both through their actions and their words, that they are building around the 26-year-old Luka Dončić. An organization that once revolved around James and only James now has other priorities. And thus, a divide builds. One side thinks more about the short term. The other considers years down the line. 'LeBron knows the Lakers are building for the future, and he also wants to compete for championships,' James' agent Rich Paul said to The Athletic and ESPN shortly after James picked up his option. 'We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we've had for eight years with (owner) Jeanie (Buss) and (general manager) Rob (Pelinka) and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.' So, if James is evaluating what's best for himself at this stage of his career, if he wants to make every season he has left count, and if he decides the Lakers can't help him accomplish that, what's next? Most obviously, he and the Lakers could work together on a trade. Let's break down the options. One reason James would pick up the option, even if he were uncertain about his future, is for the money. He will make $52.6 million next season. No one else could pay him that on the open market. The other reason is for security. James is one of two players in the NBA, along with Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal, to wield a no-trade clause. If James were to get dealt, he could choose his destination. Advertisement Trading James would be a headache. Given the no-trade clause, the list of teams couldn't be long. The San Antonio Spurs could cobble together the salaries to make a deal for him, but they won only 34 games last season. It would be difficult for him to argue that squad would have a better chance at a 2026 title than the more veteran one that costars Dončić. The Denver Nuggets could build a trade around Jamal Murray, but is there a contender in existence that needs an offensive hub less than the one that already employs the greatest one in the NBA, three-time MVP Nikola Jokić? The James saga could end any way: Most likely in him remaining with the Lakers at least through the end of this season, but also, if the situation goes sideways, in a trade. Maybe if James wants a new home, the Lakers choose to do right by him, buying him out of his contract and sending him into free agency. Of course, the only motivation the organization would have to do this is for the good karma. Usually, if you say goodbye to an all-timer, you want players and/or picks in return. Whether James would even consider a buyout could come down to how many more seasons he wants to play. If he believes he has three more years in him, then he'll need another contract in 2026. Signing a cheap deal after taking a buyout this summer would make paydays in ensuing seasons more unlikely. But if he felt retirement was on the way in a year, that wouldn't matter. For now, though, James is a Laker. He is not negotiating a buyout with the team. He has not demanded a trade, and maybe he never will. However, if he does eventually ask out and the Lakers comply, there are various franchises that could enter the conversation. Just as an exercise, let's run through five of them (listed in no particular order), outlining how those teams could make James trades happen. Advertisement There is no team more obvious to throw on this list — from both James' perspective and that of the Cavaliers. On one side would be the romance. James could finish his career in the place he began it. On the other side is a squad that just won 64 games last season and sits in a conference that is falling apart. The Cavs could be the favorites to win the Eastern Conference already. Add James to the mix, and they would vault into a tier of their own. But it's not that simple. A hypothetical James-to-Cleveland trade is impractical, if not impossible. Forgetting about James' and Cleveland's wants, the math it would take to get James traded back to Ohio would leave Pelinka writing on windows. The Cavaliers, as currently constructed, are the one organization certain to be above the dreaded second apron, a payroll threshold that limits a team's resources, hinders the types of transactions it can pull off and forces significant luxury-tax payments. Because of this, there is no way for the Cavs to trade for James without losing two of their top players: starting center Jarrett Allen and All-Star point guard Darius Garland. One of the second-apron rules that dings Cleveland is about 'aggregation.' The Cavaliers cannot aggregate players together to trade more than one at a time — unless they find a way to dump salary. At the moment, Cleveland is $23 million above the second apron. Let's say the Cavs trade Allen, an essential contributor, and Dean Wade, who combine to make $26 million next season, without taking any salary back, dipping them below the second apron. (Already, this is an aggressive move to make just to acquire a soon-to-be 41-year-old.) There would still be issues. Because they would remain above the first apron, they would not be allowed to take in more money than they send out in a trade. The Cavaliers would need to compile enough salary to surpass $52.6 million and then some. If they flip four or five players for James, they need to leave enough room below the second apron to fill out the rest of the roster, since a trade where they aggregate players would hard cap them there. Advertisement De'Andre Hunter, Max Strus and Lonzo Ball combine to make less money than James does. And thus, Cleveland would need to include more players than just those three, but its remaining ones make make either too little (remember, sending out minimum salaries is not helpful in this scenario because the Cavs would just have to sign other minimum guys to replace them) or are too good to part with: Garland, Donovan Mitchell or Evan Mobley. And thus, the only way a James acquisition could make sense for Cleveland would be if he somehow became a free agent and could sign there for cheap. If there is one activity the basketball world has mastered, it's connecting dots. The relationships are already in Dallas. There's injured All-Star Kyrie Irving, who James teamed up with for a title in Cleveland and who he has tried to play with again since. There's 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis, who the Lakers flipped for Dončić only five months ago — and who James never hoped to see leave. Mavericks GM Nico Harrison is a former executive at Nike, where James has a lucrative shoe contract. As became front-page news after the Lakers acquired Dončić, the two guys who would negotiate this deal, Harrison and Pelinka, go back a long way. Meanwhile, the Mavericks could make an offer of just role players — albeit, important ones. Future Hall of Famer Klay Thompson along with versatile contributors Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington would get the deal done financially. Dallas could trade a future first-round pick, as well, though draft picks would become complicated in a trade for James. Teams wouldn't be excited about giving up chunks of their future to acquire a 40-year-old, even if there has never before been a 40-year-old as good at basketball as James is now. On the other side, Pelinka recently said that the Lakers are focused on creating significant cap space in the summer of 2027. Gafford just agreed to an extension that will stretch into 2029. If Los Angeles were picky enough about its cap situation that it lost an imperative role player, Finney-Smith, who signed a four-year deal with the Rockets, over long-term money, then it may not be so enthusiastic about taking on Gafford, even if he already has experience excelling alongside Dončić. Advertisement Ease your brain. The mathematics in northern California are not nearly as strenuous. James is close with two-time MVP Stephen Curry, with whom he finally played last summer, when the couple paired up at the Olympics. He and former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green share an agent. He played for head coach Steve Kerr with Team USA. And the Warriors have the lure of … well, the Warriors. Golden State has one obvious offer for James: Jimmy Butler for the quadragenarian. Butler makes a tad more than James does, marking the trade legal, though if it were constructed this way, it would hard cap the Lakers at the first apron, since they'd be absorbing more money than they send out in a deal. If the Lakers were fine with that, they could execute the one-for-one trade. However, they may want to maintain flexibility, which they could do somewhat easily. Golden State and Los Angeles could find a third team willing to take on one of the Lakers' minimum salaries (say, Jordan Goodwin's) without giving any salary back. This way, the total money leaving the purple and gold is above Butler's incoming salary. Beyond Butler, Golden State wouldn't have many options in a trade for James. It could combine Green with role players Buddy Hield and Moses Moody, but that package isn't as enticing for the Lakers. Plus, Moody would present the same issue that Gafford would or Finney-Smith would have: He's under contract beyond 2027. The Warriors could try including talented 22-year-old Jonathan Kuminga, who is a restricted free agent at the moment. But signing and trading Kuminga comes with speed bumps. A deal like this would fall victim to a niche CBA quirk called 'base year compensation,' which complicates any sign-and-trade involving a player who earns a raise of more than 20 percent, as Kuminga would. Essentially, Kuminga's outgoing money for Golden State would be treated as a different number than his incoming money to Los Angeles, which creates even more obstacles. Let's get wild. James stays in Los Angeles — just not at Crypto. The Clippers could toss together a trio of shooting guard Norman Powell, who was sneakily better than ever last season, bench scorer Bogdan Bogdanović and defensive stopper Derrick Jones Jr., who was a starter next to Dončić on Dallas' 2024 finals team. However, doing so would eat into the depth that made them so dangerous a season go. Advertisement Presumably, they would not want to part with starting center Ivica Zubac, who made his first All-Defensive team in 2025-26 and who they reportedly would not entertain in conversations with the Suns about former MVP Kevin Durant only a couple of weeks ago. There's another way the Clippers could go about this too — and yes, it's one that would happen only in fantasyland. They could trade their highest-paid player, two-time finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, for James. As he showed at the end of this past season, Leonard can still annihilate teams on both sides of the court when healthy. But he is often hurt. The goal is to forget about the first 82 games, to make sure his body is in its best shape come April. In that sense, even an older James projects to hold up better throughout a season. The swap could clean the Clippers' books, too. Leonard's contract expires in 2027. James' expires next summer. With half a million coming off the roster in 2026, the Clippers would enter what could be a star-studded free agency with enough cap space to sign a max player and then some. However, the Lakers might not want to absorb more than $50 million of 2026-27 money for an oft-injured player who will be 35 years old by then. Unless the Clippers sweetened the deal with draft picks, Los Angeles may rather hold onto James in this scenario. The Lakers may have a difficult time extracting draft picks from anyone, too, considering front offices around the league are locked into Giannis Antetokounmpo's situation with the Milwaukee Bucks — if Tuesday's moves didn't change things. Parting with picks while also giving up the salary slots it could take to acquire Antetokounmpo may not be worth it for some of these organizations who are waiting to pounce if the two-time MVP were to become available. This is another situation that combines basketball with cleaning up the finances. Advertisement Purely from a standpoint of matching salaries, the Knicks could construct various types of offers for James. The most chaotic deal would be flipping All-NBA big man Karl-Anthony Towns for James, straight up — two teams betting on the other's star. Of course, this could leave the Knicks center-less, given Mitchell Robinson's injury struggles. They could pair a couple of wings, OG Anunoby and either Josh Hart or Mikal Bridges, in a trade for James. They could piece together a trio to offer for James: Anunoby, Robinson and point guard Miles 'Deuce' McBride. But Anunoby will make $45 million in 2027-28 and has a player option for the following season, which would eat into the Lakers' possible cap space two summers from now. Meanwhile, the Knicks — or any other team — may not want to part with three key rotation pieces (and three of their four best defenders) for a 40-year-old. The Knicks could justify Towns-for-James with a similar financial argument the Clippers could use in a Leonard-for-James one. New York owes Towns $110 million over the next two seasons. The five-time All-Star has a $61 million player option for 2027-28. Meanwhile, the Knicks are at risk of climbing into the second apron next season, a possibility that does not excite them but could be inevitable if they keep their current top five or six together. Bridges, who is eligible for an extension now, can become a free agent in 2026. His new salary could drive the Knicks past that feared threshold. James could double as a basketball fit, as well as a giant expiring contract to avoid the second apron in 2026-27 and maybe beyond. In Los Angeles, Towns and Dončić could destroy any defense they face. But the Knicks are also made up of prime-aged contributors. This would make them older. Like in the other hypotheticals, a James trade to the Knicks, even in a world where both he and the Lakers agree it's best for the two to part ways after seven years, isn't likely. The Knicks didn't get in on the hunt for Kevin Durant. Like so many others, they could be saving up salary and assets for a guy in Milwaukee. They may not handle this hypothetical much differently. (Top illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photo: David Liam Kyle / NBAE via Getty Images)
