For weeks, the New York Knicks’ Miles McBride question appeared to come with a hard choice.
Extend him now and risk restricting one of their most useful trade assets. Or let him play out the final year of his contract and preserve maximum flexibility around the deadline.
That choice may not be nearly as binary as it seemed.
New York Post reporter Stefan Bondy clarified Friday that McBride can sign a meaningful extension and still remain trade-eligible this season, correcting an earlier interpretation of the NBA’s extension rules. The distinction could materially change how the Knicks approach one of their most important contract decisions before training camp. (nypost.com)
“I edited the story because of my mistake: there is indeed a scenario where McBride can get a decent extension (say, three years, $55 million) while maintaining his trade eligibility,” Bondy wrote on X.
Bondy explained that because McBride’s current salary is below the NBA’s average annual salary, a trade-eligible extension can begin at up to 120% of that league-average figure.
For the Knicks, that opens a path to reward McBride without necessarily sacrificing flexibility.
Miles McBride Has Outplayed His Contract
McBride enters the season on the final year of the three-year, $13 million extension he signed in December 2023.
He has far outperformed that deal.
The 25-year-old guard averaged career highs of 12.0 points and 2.6 assists in 26.3 minutes last season while shooting 41.3% from the 3-point range on 6.6 attempts per game.
His value goes beyond the box score.
McBride has developed into one of New York’s most reliable point-of-attack defenders, while his growth as a high-volume spot-up shooter has made him easier to play alongside Jalen Brunson and other creators.
He is no longer simply a cheap reserve.
He is a two-way rotation guard in his prime whose salary has lagged behind his production.
That is why the extension issue matters.
Knicks Can Reward McBride Without Closing Trade Door
The concern with extending McBride was never that the Knicks wanted to move on from him.
It was whether doing right by him financially would remove one of their better options if the roster needed to be reshaped later.
McBride’s age, defense, shooting and manageable salary make him the kind of player other teams could reasonably value in trade talks.
That possibility remains relevant because New York is deeper in the backcourt than in the frontcourt.
Brunson remains the centerpiece. Jose Alvarado gives the Knicks another proven point guard. Tyler Kolek is still developing, while New York has multiple wings capable of handling secondary creation and perimeter assignments.
Center remains the clearest weakness behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond.
If that imbalance becomes more pronounced during the season, McBride could become one of the cleaner pieces New York has to offer in a larger deal.
Bondy’s correction means an extension does not necessarily take that option away.
Higher Salary Could Help Knicks Next Offseason
There is also a longer-term benefit that makes an extension even more interesting.
McBride’s current bargain salary limits how much money the Knicks can send out in a trade built around him. If he remains in New York through the season and the higher salary on a new extension kicks in next summer, that number would give the Knicks a larger outgoing salary slot in trade construction.
That could matter if New York goes hunting for a more expensive player.
Instead of needing to stack multiple smaller contracts simply to reach the required salary range, the Knicks could use McBride’s larger number as a more useful matching piece in a bigger deal.
For a contender operating with limited cap flexibility, that is not a minor detail.
An extension could therefore serve three purposes at once: protect the Knicks from losing McBride for nothing in unrestricted free agency, preserve his availability for an in-season trade under the right structure and potentially make his contract more useful in a larger deal next offseason.
That makes Bondy’s clarification more than a technical correction.
It gives the Knicks a way to reward a player who has earned a raise while keeping both short-term and long-term trade paths open.
They may not have to choose between keeping Miles McBride and keeping their options.
They could do both.
Knicks Get Major Miles McBride Update That Changes Trade Outlook