If Julius Randle wants to sign a contract extension with the New York Knicks, he may have to take some sort of discount.
Randle is now eligible for an extension. A max extension for Randle comes in at four years, $181 million.
Randle has good reason to want such a deal. He is entering the third year of a four-year, $117 million extension he signed in 2021, which has turned into a team-friendly deal for a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA player. Randle has a player option for 2025-26 that he can decline to become a free agent next summer.
However, for the Knicks, a max extension is complicated. Beyond Randle's tricky on-court fit with the revamped Knicks, if Randle signs a max extension, it will likely push the Knicks into the dreaded second apron. The second apron is a punitive financial threshold that severely limits how teams can build their roster through free agency and trades.
Thus, a max extension for Randle would practically negate the flexibility that Jalen Brunson gave the team by taking a discount, four-year, $156 million extension.
For this reason, ESPN's NBA front office insider Bobby Marks said on the "Knicks Film School" podcast that he doubts the Knicks will give Randle his full max.
"I think at that number, that's not going to happen," Marks said of Randle's max. "Even with the [salary] cap rate rising, it's hard for me to see them extending him for four for $181 [million].
"I think you kind of have to reach a compromise here."
That compromise could go a number of ways. One idea Marks suggested would be for Randle to play out this season, opt into his $30.9 million player option for 2025-26, then sign an extension from there. While it delays Randle's pay day, it gives him significant financial security, and allows the Knicks to stave off becoming a second apron team for at least another year.
It's also possible that Randle and the Knicks just negotiate a smaller extension at a number that would help them avoid the second apron.
Randle's free agent market plays into this scenario. Free agents rarely get big pay days from opposing teams in free agency anymore. Extensions have been the key way for players to get paid. Clear-cut All-NBA players get paid — Paul George just signed a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. But the next biggest contract given to a free agent that switched teams in the past two years was Fred VanVleet's three-year, $128 million contract with the Houston Rockets.
Marks said if he were Randle, he would seriously consider any extension that offers him a raise, even if it's below his max.
"If Leon Rose goes to [Randle's agent] Aaron Mintz and says, 'Hey, we're going to have you decline your [2025-26 option] and we're going to offer you three [years] for $100 [million],' I would seriously consider taking that," Marks said on the podcast.
It's a tricky decision for Randle. He just watched OG Anunoby use his leverage to get a $212 million contract from the Knicks. Although Brunson took less than he could have gotten if he waited a year, that $156 million extension was the max he could get for an extension. Randle could fairly ask why he should take a discount.
Then again, a better pay day might not be waiting in free agency. If Randle wants to remain with an Eastern Conference contender, he might have to sacrifice some money.
