Reggie Miller gets real on Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart contract stalemates appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The New York Knicks have been preparing for the defense of their 2025 NBA Championship, but that’s taken a backseat at times to the contract negotiations involving Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Reggie Miller believes the Knicks will continue to negotiate with their players privately, but want to close the door on constant questions being asked.
The Knicks came out last week and said they were halting all contract extension negotiations, instead focusing on the start of the 2026-27 NBA regular season. New York is set to raise their banner and receive their championship rings on Tuesday night when they host the Philadelphia 76ers, but all anyone can talk about is the fact that James Dolan has refused to deep into his checkbook to pay Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart the contracts they feel they deserve.
Towns and Hart have both been reportedly willing to take a slight paycut to help the team build a roster, but the Knicks have offered them deals significantly lower than a “slight paycut.”
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Former Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller, who is now a leading analyst for the NBA on NBC team, spoke on a conference call about the current situation in New York and whether or not it will hang over their heads.
“Mike Brown has come out and addressed the elephant in the room about the contracts,” Miller said. “I think the Knicks’ organization as a whole said, ‘look, we’re going to table discussions,’ and all that really is, is to stop the media from asking the players, Karl Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, about their contract status in every scrum, which is smart. It doesn’t mean they’re not going to negotiate behind closed doors. They just don’t want the players to be asked every time there’s a camera in their face, like ‘hey, have you heard anything?'”
Karl-Anthony Towns is eligible for a four-year, $276 million contract extension with the Knicks while Josh Hart is eligible for a four-year, $131 million contract extension. Neither player received offers close to their max, which is why there’s a bit of awkwardness given the Knicks are coming off an NBA Championship.
Could this turn into something more and derail part of their season? Miller hopes not.
“I hope it’s not a distraction because when you have a window to win a championship or multiple championships, you’ve got to seize the moment, and the Knicks’s window is wide open right now,” Reggie Miller said. “They’ve got the experience. They understand how to win. They’re a veteran-led team. They’ve been together. They’re well-coached. And they play nine, ten deep now because of Mike Brown. So, they have all the ingredients to win multiple championships.
I hope something like a player worrying about their contract status doesn’t deter them from the ultimate goal. I’m curious to see the first 15, 20 ball games. That will tell me a lot, if this thing is kind of lingering a little bit, by their record. But I think this team will be focused and locked in because of the captain in Jalen Brunson, and he will get his team right because their window is wide open right now. They’ve got a boulder on their back being the champs, and I hope something like this doesn’t take them off the rails a little bit.”
Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are set to open up the 2026-27 regular season as part of the NBA on NBC’s triple-header on Tuesday, which starts with the Detroit Pistons hosting the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks hosting the Philadelphia 76ers, and ends with the San Antonio Spurs hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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