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00:15welcome back to another edition of new york got game dexter henry stephan bondi our fantastic
00:19deep reporter covering the new york knicks is here stephan how you doing man yeah man how's it going
00:24going good going good uh knicks fans might be a little bit worried today a little bit concerned
00:29because uh you talked about this back on media day that a lot of the talk here in training camp
00:35and through the preseason was going to be about these extensions that are available for these
00:38players and today the knicks came out with a statement in which they basically said they will
00:44not be discussing extensions through the season and they're tabling it uh going forward what did
00:49you make of that statement and what does this mean for the knicks and the players involved primarily
00:56josh hart and cruelty towns well it means a couple things one is the they were not close to obviously
01:02not close to an agreement um which every player has said that i think that's not a surprise the other
01:08thing it felt like and i've you know nobody's confirmed this but it felt like a response to
01:15what carl anthony sound said to us on monday when i asked him you know give us some details separate
01:21fact from fiction about what's going on with your contract situation he said all i wanted all i want
01:28is um something that values me i'm willing to take a discount but obviously he was not willing to take
01:33the type of discount that the knicks were offering which was as i reported four years 200 million dollars
01:39uh cat is eligible for four years 277 million dollars so he's looking for something in the middle
01:45um and the knicks never got there and when he took some of these issues more publicly he also had
01:52a
01:52line no shit sherlock um that probably rubbed people the wrong way in with the knicks uh then
01:58this felt like this was the knicks response all right you know this is now public well we're gonna
02:04shut it down and there's gonna be no negotiations and there's gonna be no distractions um so you know
02:11that's my read on the situation um and you know i don't think it's a surprise at all that they
02:18are
02:18not coming to an agreement i do think that taking this so publicly and playing this out now with
02:24statements um that part is a little bit surprising to me i was a little bit surprised i just want
02:29to
02:29read the statement uh from the knicks for the people said as an organization this quote from the
02:33knicks as an organization our entire focus is on preparing for the upcoming season and delivering
02:37another year for our fans to be proud of as a result we will not be negotiating contract extensions
02:42until later in the season and will remain solely focused on preparing for the starter season which
02:47is october 20th at the garden against the sixers when i think about this steph and i agree with you
02:55i'm not surprised necessarily at the knicks responding in this way but does no i am surprised in that i
03:02am
03:02yeah sorry and i'm speaking myself i am surprised i'm responding in this way right i thought there would
03:07be some response and i might be a little bit surprised to be clear about the timing of this
03:13but does the way the knicks responded here does it benefit them in any way that is i don't you
03:18know
03:19it it benefits them as a just a shot at who who they're negotiating with agents players whatever
03:26because obviously it's not going to stop the distraction like it does the opposite right um you
03:33know the player it doesn't stop the players from thinking i don't have a contract extension that's
03:39not going to stop it's not going to stop the media from asking how do you feel about not having
03:43a
03:43contract extension the knicks cannot ban players from speaking to the media they cannot ban players
03:50from speaking about their own contracts so to say that this ends the distractions and now we're going
03:58to focus on winning a championship um no i i don't agree with that and i don't think that was
04:04their true
04:05purpose in releasing it in a statement like this publicly you know if they wanted to do it where all
04:11right let's just stop the distractions and focus on the season they would have met with the um
04:18representatives of these players uh they would have come to an understanding of listen we're not close
04:24you know there's nothing you know we're not budging from this um you know we have the second apron
04:29mandate from the owner we can't pay you what you want but you know i would like for us to
04:35table this
04:35privately and um you know please don't discuss it publicly through the media that's not what happened
04:41um the representatives from these players found out about it didn't catch them by surprise they knew
04:47that the statement was coming um but it's still you know it still doesn't feel like what it says the
04:54purpose is what it says which is stopping distractions right it's not because the questions
04:58are still going to be asked the next time there's media availability carlty towns and josh hart will be
05:03asked these questions i think it'll be interesting to see how they respond to those questions speaking
05:07of their response steph both of them took to social media and had some posts on twitter x whatever we're
05:14calling it these days josh hart put in new york with a couple blue and orange hearts
05:17carlty towns had always loved blue and orange hearts i don't know if you saw this and a picture
05:22a picture of him hugging patrick ewing do you make anything of those social media posts
05:28that i mean the way you describe him is it feels like they're taking the high road
05:33and be like oh i love new york right it has nothing to do with the the the fans and
05:39you know people
05:40like patrick ewing so that that's what my read on it is just feels like they're taking the
05:44high road um when you look at yours my read was similar to that it is i think they're trying
05:54to
05:54show hey it's always love between us and the fans we know the fans love us the fans don't hate
05:59anybody on this team right now right nobody in this team could do wrong at this point after ending
06:03the 53 year drought it's i agree with you taking the high road and saying we've got the love from
06:09the fans but do you guys have love from the fans with this because this is kind of where i
06:14was
06:14going to go next steph there's been a little bit of goodwill with the way things have been run
06:19with this team the last seven years or so right obviously them getting a championship and you know
06:25this being around basketball for a long time there hasn't always been that goodwill with the knicks and
06:30how they've run business so i guess a two-part question here does this what's happened today in the
06:35statement coming out does this affect how the fans are now looking at ownership in the front office
06:42and could this also have an impact on how players down the road and agents look at dealing with
06:48business with the knicks because of this coming out uh i think players and agents know what they're
06:54getting into with the knicks ownership i don't think that is going to change um but you know how the
07:01fans
07:01feel we'll see um if they win everything is fine i've always said that it's the um what's the phrase
07:10it's the great eraser of any problem um is right that's not the phrase but whatever the phrase is
07:16that's what i meant to say um and um you know but if they struggle this is going to be
07:24the main thing
07:25that comes up at all times and it they will it will be a pinned as the reason why this
07:31team is not
07:31living up to expectations it'll be pinned as the reason why this team wasn't able to uh get another
07:37championship um you know they the ownership has made a decision to run it but put the onus on
07:46themselves james don't put an onus on himself to say if this doesn't work out i'm gonna take some blame
07:52i'm gonna take the lion's share of the blame because um it's gonna be the same team that came
08:00back minus mitchell robinson who was sacrificed for the second apron and the second apron
08:05is uh james dolan's mandate and it's also going to be with players who have this contract extension
08:11on their minds and they have that contract extension on their minds because james dolan doesn't want to
08:16go into the second apron and doesn't want to pay these players um you know what they're asking for
08:21so i think we have to wait and see what the fans think because we have to wait and see
08:26how the
08:26knicks play we do have to wait and see how they play and how this all plays out going forward
08:31you
08:31said to me on media day we talked about this just how interesting would be to watch all these contract
08:36extensions that because of the way this team and the leadership they have particularly led by jalen
08:41brunson that this would not be a distraction now with this coming out seeing the responses has your
08:47opinion on that change do you think this can become a distraction for this team
08:51i think it can become a just well first of all for i think josh is fine i think with
08:56josh we got to
08:57remove him from the equation because he has a team option so i know he wants to be rewarded i
09:03know he
09:03wants to be paid i understand why the knicks would not even consider doing it right now it just doesn't
09:07make sense um you know unless he's willing to meet a certain price right the the cat situation um
09:17we talked about this before he had he has struggled with the idea that he's not stable and not in
09:27a
09:27stable situation and we saw that last season when he was on the trade block and you know he was
09:32being
09:32mentioned about going to milwaukee for janice antetokounmpo or portland or whatever and he
09:37was playing poorly and it was weighing on his mind he also didn't you know he was struggling with his
09:41role with mike brown all that stuff this could weigh on him in a similar fashion um for sure and
09:48you know
09:49this is a guy who's made it clear he wants to stay in new york he absolutely wants to stay
09:52in new
09:53york uh miles mcbride his whole career you know is feels like it's on the line right now and when
09:59i career
10:00by career i mean you know his big payday he's been on this poor contract for a while now he
10:07has not
10:08gotten any you know he has he's still waiting for his big payday so i think regardless you know unless
10:14he was to get an extension that this is going to affect his play one way or another now is
10:19he going
10:19to come out and play even better because he's now playing for big money or is it going to you
10:24know
10:25hinder his game he's going to go out there and try to do too much i i don't know the
10:28answer to that
10:28but that will be certainly weighing on mcbride's mind uh and you know i feel like it's potential
10:35that cat will also have something weighing on his mind during this season if that with no extension
10:39yeah and i think some fans are going to hear that and say well i don't like having too many
10:43guys on
10:44a team that i'm rooting for that are worried about their money right wondering how that can all impact
10:48things in the locker room and then i think one interesting interesting thing to note here is cat if he
10:54were to sign an in-season contract extension with the knicks he would have to decline the 61 million
10:59dollar player option that he has for next season in order to do that and it makes me wonder if
11:05you're
11:05in his position because you're right his situation is very different from josh hart because of that
11:08player option do you think cat would decline that player option just to get an extension done in
11:15season later in the season as the knicks have said they would be willing to discuss yeah i mean if
11:19the
11:19money's right for sure right like if they say yeah we'll give you whatever you know the 240 million
11:26dollars that you're asking for he would absolutely decline it but he does hold the that's his big
11:31leverage is he has the 61 million dollar player option where it's like all right you know i'll play
11:36out this season and if i get hurt or i don't play as well and then i won't hit free
11:41agency i'll just play
11:42next season on the biggest contract the biggest salary that i've ever had in my career so he has uh
11:48he has
11:49considerable leverage leverage because of that 61 million dollar player option and he's in a good
11:55position with that said you know cat is a personality that wants everybody to like him he wants everybody
12:00to be happy and kumbaya um i don't think he's he he's comfortable with the as he said being uncomfortable
12:08you know i know he said that that's that's something he you know that has to happen but cat doesn't
12:14strike
12:14me as somebody that's comfortable when it's uncomfortable yeah i think the thing for me is
12:19i'm really intrigued to see how cat and both josh hart respond to this when you know the beat writers
12:25talk to them that that's really the response on social media is one thing to me stuff the other
12:30thing will be what what do they say are they going to continue to say something in public you know
12:34we
12:35know the knicks are probably not going to say anything more on this but i'm just very intrigued to
12:39see what they say and how they carry this because the message we heard from cat earlier this week
12:43when you and i talked in philly it was you know it was a very strong tone i wonder if
12:48the stone the
12:49tone is still strong here or it softens a bit that is a good question i don't know the answer
12:54that uh cat
12:55was not in the he was the only player that was not in the locker room after the game yesterday
13:01so he was the only player we didn't talk to so maybe he probably knew what was coming
13:06he had to know it was coming maybe he wanted to get his words right but we'll see you with
13:09the
13:09next availability our stuff and body he will be on top of that either way interesting times around
13:14the knicks we'll see if this becomes a distraction one thing we can both tell you questions aren't
13:18going to stop coming wait let me look i got to say one more thing about this yeah yeah sure
13:22um
13:24and we have said i've said this before to you the idea that the knicks can't go into the second
13:28apron for one year is just silly um they can go into the second the idea of the second apron
13:36is it it inhibits your it stops your ability to get other players and get them on your team build
13:42out your roster by signing players you can't use the mid-level exception to sign players you can't
13:48aggregate players in trades you can't take that more so whatever it's about get it's about stopping
13:52your ability to build your team from other players outside of your roster it does not stop you from
13:57keeping players on your own team the knicks have an intact championship roster they proved it they have
14:04they won the championship with the players they have on the roster they have every right they have
14:09every ability to pay their own players and go into the second apron if it doesn't work out you can
14:17then make a trade you know to get out of the second apron the boston celtics did it just recently
14:23um the
14:24cleveland cavaliers were in the second apron just recently and got out of it so it's not hard to get
14:29out of the second apron the only problem with going into the second apron is you're paying a shit ton
14:34of money and if that's the problem then that's the problem but to me i don't understand why there's this
14:42i can't touch the second apron it's the third rail situation you've said this to me before and i guess
14:49what i'll say to this is i don't disagree with you my thing is when are owners going to be
14:54shamed
14:55into going into second apron as long as this system exists right there's been no shame for it and
14:58you're right you saw boston do it cleveland's a great point they they had the largest penalties
15:03last season they got out of it i think denver right now yeah right and denver has not really
15:08looked the same since winning in 23 but owners are not really been willing to do this outside of
15:16outside of boston and james donan made the mandate clear hey this is not what i want to do i
15:20think it's
15:21disappointing for the fans i'm with you i think it's disappointing for the fans of a championship
15:24team but no owners have been willing phoenix did it like i just reeled off four teams
15:29and the second apron hasn't been around for that long it's been around for three years
15:34three years right when i say that it's the owners willing to do it for multiple seasons right that
15:39that that's the thing with a championship roster okay well i'm not saying that's my point there's
15:45no reason why you can't do it for one season i'm with you i'm with you on this yeah i'm
15:49i'm with
15:50you on this but the thing i guess what i'm saying is not disagreeing with you where's the shame for
15:57james bell dolan the fans still show up to msg they're still there the seats are going to be filled
16:02right like yeah i mean i know what you're saying but like you know that's fine that's that's always
16:09been the case like the team it was terrible for a long time and they were still selling out every
16:13game
16:13but um you know the only shame that's coming is you know i want i turn on first take and
16:19steven a smith and kendrick perkins are killing james dolan on it so that that's all i can think
16:25of i you can never tell the fan i can i'm not telling fans not to buy tickets yeah like
16:29they
16:29love the knicks i you know i why are you suggesting that the fans boycott the knicks
16:35i think in sports fans have probably more power than they realize but they do not use it some of
16:40the
16:40times is what i'll say but i understand after a championship i'm not expecting them to boycott
16:43them this year that's unrealistic um that you know what that's you that's the english english
16:49premier league fan and you talking because that's what they do over there yeah but but hey does it
16:53does it not work yeah you know better than me i don't follow it that closely yeah and to be
17:00fair
17:00to give the nuance in it it's a little bit of a different situation because we're talking about
17:03a salary cap and a non-salary cap so i don't want to talk about it like it's exactly equal
17:07because it's
17:07not you know i'm with you though if you have a championship team particularly a team that won
17:12a championship i understand the limitations of the second apron do i think you should go into it
17:16yes i do because of what you said you can get out of it you could get it out of
17:21it i think this i
17:22think fans i think you and i've talked to most fans and other people around basketball that would
17:26have said they'd like to see the knicks go to it and well and we're not even talking about going
17:30into
17:30the next season or this right it's in two years that the threat is there and right that's why you're
17:38not giving cat an extension right it's it's a it's a lot and it's it's a larger discussion supposedly
17:47and it's a larger discussion about this you know cba current cba is it good for the nba is it
17:53good for
17:53teams i don't know i don't think well the nba loves the second apron they just sent out uh statements
17:59defending it because bruce brown had the audacity to say um it's not good for me but it isn't it
18:09hasn't been it it's it's well the nba called him a liar there's more i could say on that i'll
18:16say for
18:17i'll say for another time i don't i don't necessarily agree with that not you i don't know i don't
18:21agree
18:21with their statement on that but i don't think it works for the i would say the middle and lower
18:26class player of the nba don't think it necessarily works for them i think the numbers prove that i
18:31know it's like you said three seasons we're talking about but in a short time i think if you really
18:34look
18:34at the middle and the lower class player in the nba in terms of earnings i don't think it necessarily
18:40works for them which is why and i know you probably agree with this too steph just covering the sport
18:45this is why i don't fault a cat or a josh hart for asking for their money especially when they've
18:50won and certain things that they've accomplished i can never fault those guys for that at all
18:54whatsoever i think where we can and i appreciate you saying it and then writing it about this stuff
18:58too we can fault the owners for the penny pinching and not being willing to pay and invest in
19:05championship level teams they hey at least you're bringing some shame right you're bringing some shame
19:10i'm i'm gonna get the english premier league fan and me here with the i'm not trying to shame i'm
19:15not
19:15but i want to be i'm not trying to we're not i'm not trying to shame anybody to making any
19:19decisions i'm
19:19just this is my opinion i i you know i obviously have done enough research about the second apron
19:25and the consequences about it you know bobby marks laid out an entire way that everybody on the next
19:31court everybody on the next court can get paid and you're not in the second apron and so like this
19:37is
19:37doable and so the fact that everybody's like oh you know we were you know we can't pay everybody we
19:44can't pay this guy they can't pay this guy at some point yes you eventually have to put a cap
19:48on it
19:48right but the knicks are not at that point yet right to your point you can't pay everybody forever
19:53this team is not going to stay together forever that's never been your point you're right um at
19:57some point all things are going to end in in this salary cap world in the second apron world but
20:01could they run it back yeah they could they could have is this all disappointing that they don't want
20:05to go over it yeah i understand what the fans are coming from i understand your point on it so
20:10it's all interesting we'll see how it plays out that is the great stephan body does a fantastic job
20:14for us covering the next step i appreciate the time man i will see you on monday for next temple
20:19all right man i'll see you there all right everybody stay tuned for more on new york got game
20:26and thanks for watching new york got game
20:29boom shakalaka
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