I understand that Knicks also traded two 2nd round draft picks to Charlotte and received James Nnaji -- a 20 year old European player listed as 6 - 11, 226 pounds with 7-5 wing span. Possibly a cash and stash in Europe or another 2-way center back-up for KAT.
For what its worth, the Knicks could sign James Nnaji this season as their 14th guy. He'd be able to get the rookie minimum since they have his draft rights over Hukporti/McCullar, if the Knicks choose to go in that direction.
@@YossiGozlanNBA Nnaji had back surgery and struggled to crack the rotation on his Spanish team. He's also under contract through 2027 and looks like a multi year project. Although, he reportedly wanted to join the Hornets before having surgery even if it meant spending most of the year in Greensboro.
It did. There wasn't a second apron at the time they acquired Gobert, and they had to pivot because of its implementation. They should have a nice deep roster for many years.
Great job. My biggest push back is that I view this as selling high on kat. Last summer he was coming of an awful season where he was hurt much of the year. I saw several national taking head (Simmons and hollinger) say it was among the worst contract in the league. That explains this timing for me. As good as he was at times in the playoffs he fouled so much ant publicly shamed him for it and if he shot even 40% from the field in the wcf they might win. He’s a top 30-40 player making top 5 money who fouls a ton and is a bad playoff player with growing injury problems headed past thirty.
KAT was injured in 2022-23 but relatively healthy last season and was an All-Star. He was also making $36M which is a lot easier to move than his current $49M salary. So it’s possible the Wolves could’ve had better offers around last trade deadline while he was playing really well. He was cheaper and most of the apron rules hadn’t settled in yet, so it was easier for team to acquire him. But who knows, maybe the Knicks made the best offer for him all along, in which case it made sense to wait since the interest would remain.
@@YossiGozlanNBA yeah but injuries are part of this. If kat gets hurt this year you could just wrecked. He’s played 65% of the games the last five years and it’s only gone down since moving up to pf. Sure he was currently making that much but it’s not like it wasn’t known by gms and he wasnt coming off a wcf with an awful playoff history. They’d have been nuts to trade him at the deadline this year given they were first in the west.
There is one thing you aren’t accounting for Anthony Edwards is only 23 he’s gonna get better so Ant better Divincenzo and Naz getting better plus Rob Dillingham
Absolutely, this trade is yet another vote of confidence in Edwards' ceiling as a star. This team is now deeper and will be more sustainable in the long run. But unless Reid takes a huge step forward, I think the Wolves clearly take a step back as far as this upcoming season is concerned.
Yossi, is there any chance you can do a quick video discussing the Landy Shamet injury and what the Knicks' options are to fill that 14th roster spot if they choose to waive Shamet going into the regular season? Everybody seems to be under the impression that TJ Warren is an option, but I believe he'd take the Knicks over the 2nd apron.
@@YossiGozlanNBA awesome, thank you. By the way, about 5 minutes after I sent this comment, I learned that I was wrong. I now know that vet minimum guys only count at 2.087 million towards the cap. There are a lot of nuances with this stuff haha.
Great work! Do you know what prohibited the $ for $ match to eliminate the need for a third team? If the players who were signed and traded were above the minimum anyway, why not make the deals exactly what they needed to be to match $ for $ with the Twolves?
Teams over the first apron (Wolves) cannot acquire free agents via sign and trade, so a third team was needed. Hornets took them in and are now hard capped, but that won’t impact them since they won’t go over the luxury tax anyways.
Why sign and trade three players? Why not just give one of them exactly what they need to make the salary match with KAT exactly and have Minnesota take it instead of including a third team which required additional draft picks?
becuase those people were on minimum salaries and i believe they can only he signed on a 10% increase. if that was the case trust me they would’ve done it lol
The Knicks only had Non Bird rights on those three guys and couldn't offer them more than 120% of the minimum, which is why all three of them needed to be included. That is also the maximum amount before the S+T compensation rules kick in and count the guys as less outgoing salary for the Knicks.
@@c.kevinchen7168 got it. Thanks for the info. Why not send the players directly to Minnesota after making salaries match $ for $ instead of including Charlotte though?
I understand that Knicks also traded two 2nd round draft picks to Charlotte and received James Nnaji -- a 20 year old European player listed as 6 - 11, 226 pounds with 7-5 wing span. Possibly a cash and stash in Europe or another 2-way center back-up for KAT.
For what its worth, the Knicks could sign James Nnaji this season as their 14th guy. He'd be able to get the rookie minimum since they have his draft rights over Hukporti/McCullar, if the Knicks choose to go in that direction.
@@YossiGozlanNBA Nnaji had back surgery and struggled to crack the rotation on his Spanish team. He's also under contract through 2027 and looks like a multi year project. Although, he reportedly wanted to join the Hornets before having surgery even if it meant spending most of the year in Greensboro.
I really think long term the wolves did a good job. Gives them a ton of flexibility going into the future
It did. There wasn't a second apron at the time they acquired Gobert, and they had to pivot because of its implementation. They should have a nice deep roster for many years.
Great work
Thank you!
Great job. My biggest push back is that I view this as selling high on kat. Last summer he was coming of an awful season where he was hurt much of the year. I saw several national taking head (Simmons and hollinger) say it was among the worst contract in the league. That explains this timing for me. As good as he was at times in the playoffs he fouled so much ant publicly shamed him for it and if he shot even 40% from the field in the wcf they might win. He’s a top 30-40 player making top 5 money who fouls a ton and is a bad playoff player with growing injury problems headed past thirty.
KAT was injured in 2022-23 but relatively healthy last season and was an All-Star. He was also making $36M which is a lot easier to move than his current $49M salary. So it’s possible the Wolves could’ve had better offers around last trade deadline while he was playing really well. He was cheaper and most of the apron rules hadn’t settled in yet, so it was easier for team to acquire him. But who knows, maybe the Knicks made the best offer for him all along, in which case it made sense to wait since the interest would remain.
@@YossiGozlanNBA yeah but injuries are part of this. If kat gets hurt this year you could just wrecked. He’s played 65% of the games the last five years and it’s only gone down since moving up to pf. Sure he was currently making that much but it’s not like it wasn’t known by gms and he wasnt coming off a wcf with an awful playoff history. They’d have been nuts to trade him at the deadline this year given they were first in the west.
Great job man! Love this stuff.
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it.
There is one thing you aren’t accounting for Anthony Edwards is only 23 he’s gonna get better so Ant better Divincenzo and Naz getting better plus Rob Dillingham
Absolutely, this trade is yet another vote of confidence in Edwards' ceiling as a star. This team is now deeper and will be more sustainable in the long run. But unless Reid takes a huge step forward, I think the Wolves clearly take a step back as far as this upcoming season is concerned.
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Thank you!
Yossi, is there any chance you can do a quick video discussing the Landy Shamet injury and what the Knicks' options are to fill that 14th roster spot if they choose to waive Shamet going into the regular season? Everybody seems to be under the impression that TJ Warren is an option, but I believe he'd take the Knicks over the 2nd apron.
I’m going to try to get something up on the state of final roster spots around the league in which I’ll touch on the Knicks
@@YossiGozlanNBA awesome, thank you. By the way, about 5 minutes after I sent this comment, I learned that I was wrong. I now know that vet minimum guys only count at 2.087 million towards the cap. There are a lot of nuances with this stuff haha.
Great work! Do you know what prohibited the $ for $ match to eliminate the need for a third team? If the players who were signed and traded were above the minimum anyway, why not make the deals exactly what they needed to be to match $ for $ with the Twolves?
Teams over the first apron (Wolves) cannot acquire free agents via sign and trade, so a third team was needed. Hornets took them in and are now hard capped, but that won’t impact them since they won’t go over the luxury tax anyways.
@@YossiGozlanNBA was not aware of the restriction on acquiring players via sign & trade, thank you!
They did $1 more than the minimum. Lol not $56k. you were being generous. Leon a savage.
Why sign and trade three players? Why not just give one of them exactly what they need to make the salary match with KAT exactly and have Minnesota take it instead of including a third team which required additional draft picks?
becuase those people were on minimum salaries and i believe they can only he signed on a 10% increase. if that was the case trust me they would’ve done it lol
The Knicks only had Non Bird rights on those three guys and couldn't offer them more than 120% of the minimum, which is why all three of them needed to be included. That is also the maximum amount before the S+T compensation rules kick in and count the guys as less outgoing salary for the Knicks.
@@c.kevinchen7168 got it. Thanks for the info. Why not send the players directly to Minnesota after making salaries match $ for $ instead of including Charlotte though?
KAT is a "little cat" and Randle is a dog. ANT needed another dog by his side. KAT soft