Movin' & Shakin'

The Knicks do a lot of moving around on the second day of the draft. Plus, some new news (and backup plans) on the Isaiah Hartenstein front.

Good morning, and happy Friday! It’s been quite a week. I don’t know about you, but I’m spent…and free agency hasn’t even begun yet. Anyone got any coffee?

News & Notes

🏀 The second round of the draft happened, and boy was New York’s front office a busy little bunch of beavers.

By the end of the day, they walked away with three players taken in the final 25 picks:

• 34th pick: 23-year-old point guard Tyler Kolek from Marquette

• 56th pick: 23-year-old wing Kevin McCullar Jr. from Kansas

• 58th pick: 22-year-old German center Ariel Hukport from the NBL

If you’re wondering how they went from having the 38th and 51st picks to those three selections, buckle up:

• The Blazers sent the 34th pick to the Knicks for a 2027 Minnesota second (acquired yesterday as part of the trade sending out the 26th pick), a 2029 second that is the least favorable pick between Indiana and Washington, and their own 2030 second rounder, per Jake Fischer

• The Knicks sent the 38th pick to the Thunder for the 40th pick and $500,000 cash, per Fred Katz

• The Knicks sent the 51st pick (received from Washington when they moved from 24 to 26 on Wednesday) to Phoenix for Boston’s top-45 protected 2028 second rounder

• The Knicks sent the 40th pick to Phoenix for the 56th pick and the 51st pick.

• The Knicks sent the 51st pick to Dallas for the 58th pick, a million dollars cash, and the rights to 36-year-old Finnish basketball coach and weekend happy hour bartender at the Helsinki TGI Fridays, Petteri Koponen (per Fred Katz).

Yes, you read that correctly: in the span of less than 24 hours, they acquired 51, traded away 51, re-acquired 51, and then traded away 51 once more.

I’ll have much more on Tyler Kolek next week, along with the necessary info on McCullar Jr. and Hukport, although Kolek is the guy to really be excited about here. Expect him to see #meaningful minutes for the Knicks next season.

In short, he might be the Thibsiest pick in this entire draft, so it’s no surprise that he ended up in New York. Per college basketball reporter and broadcaster John Fanta:

“The Knicks have been enamored by Tyler Kolek for weeks and did the most due diligence talking with him, sources told me.”

Considering Kolek was widely projected to go in the first round, the front office did quite well for themselves to get him where they did.

🏀 Per Knicks PR, Miles McBride underwent a procedure on his right pinkie toe this week and is expected to resume basketball activities later this summer. No big deal, hopefully.

🏀 On the Hartenstein front, both Fred Katz and Steve Popper dropped pieces yesterday that further insinuated I-Hart’s days may be numbered. From Katz:

“The Knicks have grown more pessimistic this week about retaining Hartenstein, league sources said…Momentum has shifted away from the Knicks, who sense that an offer of $72.5 million over four years, the highest New York could go, may not be large enough to keep him.”

And from Popper:

“The Knicks can pay Hartenstein up to a 4-year, $72.5 million deal and all of the efforts to free up that money may be futile since league sources have indicated the Knicks have already been told he will have offers exceeding that range"

As a quick reminder, Fred and Steve are talking about the second of two obstacles here, which is that another team could offer more money than the max New York can give regardless of apron concerns.

The first obstacle, remember, is amending the currently reported version of the Mikal Bridges trade such that they’d send out $4.3 million in additional salary and not be hard-capped at the first apron. They can’t handle point of business No. 2 without handling point of business No. 1, but point of business No. 1 might not be all that imperative if point of business No. 2 is no longer on the table.

Still, it appears the Knicks have been leaving no stone unturned when it comes to ducking a first apron hard cap. Katz reported that New York “discussed the possibility” of including Deuce in the Bridges trade, and have “gauged the market” for Mitch. At this point, neither of those options seems likely, but it goes to show just how much New York values it’s ability to operate over and above the $178 million first apron.

Why is it so important? Having a chance of retaining I-Hart, for one, but even if Hartenstein bolts, they’re currently so close to the first apron that avoiding the hard cap could be the difference between being able to fill out the bench with real NBA players versus having a bunch of warm bodies merely there for cap purposes.

For a more detailed explanation of why that is, let’s turn to today’s question…