How the Kristaps Porzingis trade gives the Knicks a chance to sign 2 superstars

The Knicks pulled off a shell-shocker of a trade, agreeing to deal rising (but injured) forward Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks on Thursday. In doing so, they have paved the way for not just one, but two max free agents to sign in New York this summer, when several high-profile All-Stars will hit the open market.

New York was able to detonate their payroll because of the other players involved in the trade. The Knicks included both Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee in the deal, according to The New York Times’ Marc Stein. The two players were due $30.3 million combined over the 2019-20 season. In exchange, New York received young point guard Dennis Smith Jr., as well as veterans Wesley Matthews and DeAndre Jordan. They will also receive two future first-round picks, though Atlanta owns Dallas’ 2019 top-5 protected first-round selection

Both Matthews and Jordan are on expiring contracts and will become unrestricted free agents on July 1. That means the only Knicks players with guaranteed contracts for the 2019-20 season are Smith Jr., Frank Ntilikina, Kevin Knox, and Mitchell Robinson.

New York bought-out and stretched Joakim Noah’s contract, and must pay him $6.4 million a year from the 2019-20 season through 2021-22. The Knicks will also have to account for their $4.45 million room mid-level exception, as well as their lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft, which pays a $9.7 million scale salary for the No. 1 pick and a $4 million salary for pick No. 10.

If New York renounces all of its potential free agents — Allonzo Trier, Damyean Dotson, Lance Thomas, Emmanuel Mudiay and Luke Kornet — and lands the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, the Knicks will have $74 million in cap space to sign free agents. The further their draft pick from No. 1, the more cap space they will have.

Total: $35,245,579

A free agent who has 7-10 years of NBA experience can sign a four-year max contract with a new team worth $140.6 million. That max contract has a Year 1 salary of $32.7 million The salary cap is expected to rise from $101 million this year to $109 million next season.

That means the Knicks could realistically sign two max free agents with cap space, then still make decisions on Trier, Dotson, Kornet and Mudiay. They will not be able to retain Thomas on his current contract. His $7.5 million 2019-20 salary is non-guaranteed.

The 2019 NBA free agency class is loaded. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Kemba Waker, and Jimmy Butler have each been linked to New York. Klay Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins, Khris Middleton, New York-native Tobias Harris, Eric Bledsoe and Paul Millsap will also be free agents. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Butler and Irving have sought places they could play together.

New York has positioned itself to sign two of these players. The rebuild could be coming to an end sooner than some anticipated.