Getty Former New York Knicks general manager Scott Perry.
Former New York Knicks general manager Scott Perry is joining ESPN, David Robert, the network’s head of event and studio production, revealed in a conference call on Monday.
“[Perry] will be one of the new analysts on our team for studio on NBA Today, SportsCenter and other studio shows,” Roberts said in a conference call with reporters.
The Knicks did not renew Perry after his contract expired. He was a carryover from the previous regime led by Steve Mills.
After he left, the Knicks promoted Gersson Rosas to senior vice president of basketball operations, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Perry was blamed for the ill-fated Cam Reddish trade, according to Newsday’s Steve Popper.
When Leon Rose arrived as team president, bringing with him his own advisers, he kept Perry in place, signing him to a contract extension in July 2021, and he remained an active voice as the team made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons. But his voice diminished with time as William Wesley, along with Gersson Rosas, who joined as a senior basketball consultant, took a more prominent role in shaping the roster.
While the Knicks have been successful in recent years with this combined leadership in the front office, there is the occasional finger-pointing, and when the team traded for Cam Reddish and then discarded him in a deal a year later, blame was put on Perry for advocating for the deal — which in the end did bring Josh Hart to New York.
Perry joins ex-Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers as former front office executives who made the TV jump.
“What you have is you have someone who has that basketball acumen based on being right there, right on the scene in a more current way, and that’s going to be to the advantage of the fans watching the sport,” Roberts said.
Immanuel Quickley to Become Restricted Free Agent
The October 23 deadline passed without an extension contract, leaving Immanuel Quickley‘s future with the Knicks in doubt.
Quickley joins his best buddy, former Knicks lottery pick Obi Toppin, in restricted free agency next summer.
“It is not an enormous surprise, as Quickley was looking for a nine-figure payday—as sources told Heavy Sports he would do during last season—and the Knicks were just not prepared to go that high,” Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney wrote on Monday. “The Knicks’ best offer, according to one league executive was, “not really close,” to what Quickley was seeking.”
Quickley is coming off a breakout season, finishing runner-up in the Sixth Man of the Year race. He watched his draft classmates Jaden McDaniels ($136 million) and Devin Vassell ($135 million) sign lucrative rookie extensions this summer.
The Knicks were unwilling to make their Sixth Man the highest-paid player on the team.
Knicks’ Joel Embiid Package
The Knicks are all-in on Joel Embiid if he becomes available.
They are willing to offer a combination of three of Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson or Evan Fournier, plus two to three first-round picks, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report on Tuesday.
Embiid is now the clear-cut No. 1 priority for the Knicks after two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo agreed to a $183 million, three-year extension with the Milwaukee Bucks.