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A look at how a Donte DiVincenzo signing could impact the Knicks both on and off the court:
HOW COULD THEY GET HIM?
In some ways, it starts with Josh Hart. Hart, DiVincenzo’s college teammate at Villanova, has a $13 million player option for 2023-24. He was widely expected to opt out of the deal and become a free agent. But the Knicks and Hart recently agreed to push the date to decide on the option to Thursday. This suggests that Hart’s decision could impact a corresponding move for New York. I assume that corresponding move involves making a run at DiVincenzo. As SNY reported, prominent members of the Knick organization are in favor of pursuing DiVincenzo in free agency. There is mutual interest between the Knicks and DiVincenzo.
New York will have competition. Minnesota, Chicago and Detroit are among the teams with interest in DiVincenzo, as other outlets have reported.
Minnesota and Chicago both could have access to the non-taxpayer midlevel exception. Detroit projects to have cap space and could exceed the amount of the exception available to New York, Chicago and Minnesota
Where does Hart figure in?
If Hart opts in to the final year of his contract, it would give the Knicks more room before the first apron of $172 million.
That room is important if a team executes a transaction that gives them a ‘hard-cap’ at the first apron. This means they would not be able to spend above $172 million in team salary.
One transaction that caps a team at the first apron? Using the non-taxpayer midlevel exception. The Knicks would use the exception to sign DiVincenzo (or another player). If they did, the Knicks would not be able to spend more than $172 million in team salary.
There is another transaction that caps a team at the first apron: a trade in which the Knicks accept a player via sign-and-trade or a trade in which they take back more than 110 percent of the salary they send out.
The Knicks currently have $160 million in salary for 2023-24 (including cap holds and the Hart opt-in).
So signing a player to the full midlevel exception puts them right around the apron. (An aside,…
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