During the interview on WFAN, Dolan was asked if he wanted to bring back the entire team, which would be one of the favorites to get back to the Finals if intact.
"I don't know if we'll be able to.
"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," he told the WFAN.
Dolan said he'll put the personnel decisions in the hands of Knicks president Leon Rose.
"I'll write as big of a check as possible, but I can't write a check into the second apron," Dolan told the WFAN.
For perspective, the Knicks are $16 million from the second apron with only 9 players. If they follow through with that, they could largely only fill their roster with minimum salary players and maybe a taxpayer MLE. They would not be able to retain Mitchell Robinson or Landry Shamet, barring one taking a very significant discount, or if one of their top 5 is traded. Jose Alvarado also has a $4.5 million player option which he is probably 50/50 to pick up.
Yeah Shamet and Robinson are gone. This new CBA is really adding parity to the league and limiting the potential for a dynasty. The Spurs might be the closest team who can crack it with all their youth (Castle, Wemby, Harper), but the previous month showed they still aren't ready and even for them, a lot depends on Wemby's health which is a factor. Otherwise they may have trouble too. OKC felt like it, and they still have a ton of draft picks, but even they'll have a handful of decisions to make in the next year or two with JDub, Dort, Hartenstein, Caruso, etc. Chet's extension will be coming too starting this year.
I could be wrong but KAT will also need an extension after next season, which I assume the Knicks will work out but then that'll require more roster maneuvering and potentially decisions on some others like Bridges and Hart.
