Knicks future outlook: Free agency, draft, trade options for newly minted champions

Knicks future outlook: Free agency, draft, trade options for newly minted champions originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The Knicks looked head-and-shoulders above the rest of the East during this year's storybook title run. That gap will shrink next season.

While New York is set to return mostly the same roster, the Celtics will be adding a full year of Jayson Tatum . The Pacers will have Tyrese Haliburton return. The Pistons will be a year wiser. And other contenders may spring up.

New York should still be the favorites to make it back to the Finals and defend their title. They will have limited flexibility to make improvements to their roster though. They are locked into eight guaranteed contracts next season, and they don't have the cap space or draft picks to make wholesale changes. Giannis Antetokounmpo ain't walking through that door.

The Knicks don't have to make wholesale changes though, and they're not at risk of losing anyone who is absolutely critical to their success. Here's the situation that they are looking at this summer.

The Knicks will return all of their starters and most of their bench. They are already an expensive team, which limits their summer spending. They will not have cap space and are projected to be into the luxury tax for the third straight season, with concerns that they will be above the second apron.

Those tax issues ideally shouldn't stop them from bringing back free agent Mitchell Robinson . New York has his Bird rights and the ability to pay him more than anyone. Doing so will severely hamper their flexibility going forward and push them into the dreaded second apron penalties , but the price is worth it.

Robinson is a great defender, an outstanding offensive rebounder, and an important cog in the Knicks' machine. He earned $13 million this past season while giving New York about $20 million worth of production based on my salary model . At just 28 years old, he could earn a starting-level contract somewhere else if the Knicks decide that he is too expensive to keep.