Durant To Knicks? How Noah's $19.3 Million Waiver Affects Free Agent Chase

Acquiring Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant in free agency next year just got a little tougher for the New York Knicks.

Durant signed a one-plus-one deal earlier this summer and could become an unrestricted free agent next year, with rumors linking him to a move to either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Knicks.

The general feeling is the 30-year-old will leave the Bay Area in 2019 while ESPN's Chris B. Haynes revealed earlier this month the Knicks have a "good shot" of luring him to New York.

"I will say this. New York Knicks have a very good shot at luring KD away from the Bay Area," Haynes said. "The reason I say that is his business partner Rich Kleiman is based in New York, huge Knicks fan. Their business is located and based in New York. KD's dad is a big Knicks fan."

"The same allure that LeBron had towards the Los Angeles Lakers, just the building, the culture, is the same thing, same way I know that KD feels about the Knicks," he added.

The Knicks could free up the cap space for a max contract deal for Durant, but things got a little complicated after they waived center Joakim Noah's deal last week without any discounts.

It means while they freed up a roster space, they are stretching the $19.3 million Noah was to make during the 2019/20 season over a period of three years, when they could have traded him next summer, granted it would still be tough to trade him away considering his decline in recent years.

"In the short term, the least painful way for the Knicks to create full max money next summer would have been trading Noah heading into the final season of his contract, removing it from the books entirely," ESPN's Kevin Pelton wrote. "While that surely would have cost New York at least one future first-round pick or an equivalent prospect, it would have maximized the Knicks' ability to win right away with a new star. Stretching Noah removes that possibility, giving New York fewer options to amass additional 2019 cap space."

"Had New York waited until next summer to decide on Noah's contract, the Knicks would have had the option to forego a stretch in that scenario, keeping their books clear for the summer of 2020," he added. "By that point, even with [Kristaps] Porzingis on a max deal, New York would have been looking at more than $40 million in projected cap space. Now, Noah's stretched salary — the largest ever for a stretched player, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks — will cut $6.4 million into that amount, and the same in the summer of 2021."

The Knicks would require $38.15 million in cap space to sign a player like Durant to a max deal, considering he has over 10 years of league experience.

However, with all things considered, including the $6.4 million Noah's contract requires, their projected space next year will be $32.5 million according to Pelton, which is even less than the $32.7 million max required for players with seven to nine years of experience such as Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler or Kemba Walker.

Unless they were to acquire a top-four lottery pick in the draft, Pelton writes that acquiring a player like Leonard, Butler or Walker should be no problem for the franchise.

But for a player like Durant, it is considerably trickier and may involve trading one of Tim Hardaway Jr. or Courtney Lee, who will earn $18,150,000 and $12,759,670 respectively next season.

"The Knicks will still have options if a max-caliber free agent is interested in coming to New York next summer or beyond," Pelton concluded. "But not quite as many as had they kept Noah on the books another year."