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Of the three Knicks who did not get their desired contract extension heading into the season, Miles McBride’s long-term future with the team is the most at risk.
His agent, Mark Bartelstein, opened up about the team shutting down all extension negotiations.
“No doubt, he would love to get that,” Bartelstein said on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “But at the end of the day, you work for the Knicks and it takes two sides to get a deal done. And if the Knicks aren’t ready to do extensions right now, then we just gotta buckle up and go have a great season. He’ll be a free agent this summer, but we’ll see. We’ve got a great relationship with [president] Leon [Rose] and the front office. We’ll see: there may be opportunities during the season, maybe in the near future. Who knows where we’ll be able to have those conversations.”
McBride is set to make just under $4 million in the final year of his contract this season and will be in line for a dramatic raise if he hits free agency next summer.
Operating under owner James Dolan’s demand to stay under the second apron, it will be extremely difficult for the Knicks to have all five starters on big contracts and still have space left over to give a significant contract to a bench player.
That makes McBride the most likely trade candidate on the roster before the Knicks potentially lose him for nothing in the summer.
And he is someone, as a proven bench contributor currently on a cheap deal, who would actually bring back a strong return.
The Post’s Stefan Bondy predicted in his season preview that McBride will be moved.
McBride has not been as pointed as Karl-Anthony Towns about the negotiations, but he did make it clear that he felt he deserved an extension before the Knicks shut down talks.
“We’ve spoken to the Knicks throughout the summer,” Bartelstein said. “Miles, like any player in his position, would love to get an extension. I think he’s earned it. He’s been a huge part of where that organization has gone over the last three or four years. He’s been their sixth man. A lot of people don’t realize how hurt he played last year in the playoffs. He had abdominal surgery that caused him to miss a couple of months. He came back and he wasn’t really right yet, but he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be there for his teammates.”
Dink Pate’s wild basketball journey has landed him back with the Knicks.
The team signed him to an Exhibit 10 contract Saturday and quickly waived him — a housekeeping procedure to get him to their G-League team.
Since Exhibit 10 deals are basically just training camp deals, they expire at the start of the regular season. But as long as he clears waivers as expected, it means the Knicks will keep his G League rights.
Pate, 20, spent last year with the Westchester Knicks. Then, as part of college sports’ increasingly Wild West-like system, he tried to play in college this year at Providence.
He didn’t have previous college experience, having instead opted to play for the G League Ignite before entering the draft last year, where he went undrafted and signed with the Knicks.
But the NCAA recently denied Pate’s amateur status and ruled him ineligible. So with his college hopes dashed, he’s likely headed back to the G League.
Pate, a 6-foot-8 guard, averaged 16.0 points and 3.7 assists with the Westchester Knicks during the G League regular season last year.
Joel Embiid isn’t planning on taking in the Knicks’ championship festivities before their season opener Tuesday night against the 76ers and Madison Square Garden.
“I don’t really feel like watching that whole ceremony,” Embiid said. “I guess I’ll be in the locker room.”
Jaylen Brown, though, had a different sentiment.
“It’s an honor,” Brown said. “Opening night, it’s primetime, the former champions, I think it’s serendipitous.”