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First, a disclaimer: I interviewed two Knicks under false pretenses.
I informed them, wrongly, that the NBA awards $1 million to each member of the winning team of Adam Silver’s “In-Season Tournament.” In reality, the winners get $500,000 each.
This is new for everybody, including reporters.
Nonetheless, the premise of my story — and the interviews — remains the same. I found it interesting that the prize is disproportionately rewarding for players at the end of the roster.
What does that mean?
Take Ryan Arcidiacono, for instance. If his contract is guaranteed — which it won’t be unless he’s still on the roster after Jan. 10 — he’ll earn a little over $2.5 million this season, according to SalarySwish (a website that’s friends with Sports+).
To us regular folks, $2.5 million is making bank, bro (shout out to “Step Brothers”). But to an NBA player, it’s literally the minimum a veteran can earn. It’s also about 1/10th the salaries of his teammates Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson and RJ Barrett.
So for Arcidiacono, a $500,000 bonus is significant. He also wouldn’t have to play a second in the tournament to receive that money.
What would the 29-year-old do with that extra bread? Be practical, of course.
“I’ll probably try to pay off my mortgage,” Arcidiacono said. “Like the home I bought with my wife, probably would be the one where I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t have a great interest rate, so I’ll pay this off.’”
Smart man. Interest rates are brutal these days.
Arcidiacono, who also has aspirations of launching his own coffee shop (he’s a budding barista), understands that some of his teammates could afford to make more glamorous purchases with that money.
“I guarantee if you ask other people who make a lot more money than I do, they’d say, ‘I’m buying ‘X’ car or ‘X’ watch,’” said Arcidiacono, whose salary as a rookie in 2016 was $75,000, according to Spotrac. “For me, it’s like, OK, let me get off this mortgage.”
Dylan Windler, the Knicks’ end-of-the-bench small forward, is in a similar situation. The 27-year-old’s deal this season is worth a little over $2 million if he’s not waived by Jan. 10, meaning $500,000 would represent a 20-25% bonus.
Like Arcidiacono, Windler is thinking about property. He recently purchased land in Tennessee and could put a dent in his mortgage. With a degree in accounting from Belmont University, Windler also is keen on adding to his investment portfolio.
“I’m big into finances and math stuff in general,” he said, adding, “Can’t complain about a little extra money.”
Of course, the Knicks would have to win the whole thing (or, as the league calls it, the “NBA Cup”) to claim the top prize. That would require advancing out of group play, which begins Friday against the Bucks.
To get into the elimination stage, the Knicks would either have to win their group (which also includes the Heat, Wizards and Hornets) or earn a wild-card spot. It’s very European soccer-ish, which should be Silver’s point considering the success of the FA Cup in England.
But among the differences with the FA Cup is the players in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, not the teams, are monetarily rewarded for winning. And it’s not just the champions.
Here’s the breakdown of the prize money from the NBA:
Players on a team that loses in the quarterfinals: $50,000
Players on a team that loses in the semifinals: $100,000
Players on a team that loses in the championship: $200,000
Players on a team that wins the championship: $500,000
“I think it’s good to get guys motivated to play and really want to win,” Windler said. “Obviously, it’s a nice bonus if you end up winning that tournament.”
Before the Knicks settled on Donte DiVincenzo in free agency, Tom Thibodeau and Leon Rose put in a call to their long-shot target.
Bruce Brown, the NBA champion and defensive-minded wing, told The Post recently that his meeting with Rose and Thibodeau was a FaceTime chat and included a pitch to “do the little things to help them win.”
Apparently Thibodeau, in particular, was a longtime Brown enthusiast. Brown’s experience is a small window into how the Knicks handle free agency because Rose doesn’t speak publicly and Thibodeau redirects most roster questions to a front office that won’t answer them.
At least in Brown’s case, Thibodeau and Rose were spearheading the pitch.
“Thibs has always been a fan of mine, even coming out the draft when he was with Minnesota,” said Brown, a second-round pick in 2018. “And every time I played against him we had a few communications. But this is the first time to actually get a chance to get me.”
In the end, the Knicks had no chance. They only could offer the midlevel exception at about $12.4 million annually, and Brown took a two-year, $45 million offer from the Pacers.
“But it was cool,” Brown said, “[Rose and Thibodeau] were saying to come in and be a defender. Do the little things to help them win. But I went in a different direction.”
Brown, 27, showed his worth with the Nets in 2020-21 and 2021-22, but wasn’t prioritized by the organization and left for the Nuggets in 2022. Brown had hinted at powerful forces working against him with the Nets, which immediately prompted speculation that Kevin Durant wasn’t a fan.
“To be honest, I don’t think it was the Nets’ front office organization who made that decision, because from what I’ve heard, they wanted me back,” Brown told the “Dan LeBatard Show.”
Regardless of the reason, it was a mistake from Brooklyn. Brown went on to help the Nuggets to the title, including a clutch performance in Game 4.
He’s now paid well to start for the Pacers, who are 2-2 to start the season. Brown is averaging 12 points on 48.6% shooting (50% from 3).
The Knicks spent their entire midlevel exception (4 years, $50 million) on DiVincenzo, the backup guard who is averaging eight points on 41.2% shooting through five games.
- “You have to be in shape to play for Thibs,” Barrett said two years ago. “It’s non-negotiable.”
Thibodeau’s reputation for fostering top-level conditioned teams carried over to his first three seasons with the Knicks. They won partly because they played harder than everybody else. And playing hard requires fitness.
But I’m not seeing that very early on from this season’s version.
We’ve now twice seen the Knicks with tired legs on the second game of a back-to-back. The first time — a 96-87 defeat to the Pelicans last week — had the built-in excuse of the opponent going into the contest on two days’ rest.
But Wednesday’s blasé effort? The Cavs, like the Knicks, played the night before and traveled the same miles to get to MSG. Maybe fatigue was predictable after a rather uninspiring preseason. It was very un-Thibs-like how much the Knicks didn’t care about the preseason. Now the starters are tired and missing shots.
- Julius Randle shot 3-for-15, which is obviously bad. But it was the defense that stuck out to me — and two plays, in particular.
With the game on the line in the final three minutes, Randle saw his man set a screen to free up Donovan Mitchell and just … gave up. Mitchell was wide-open for the trey that put the Cavs up by 5 because Randle couldn’t be bothered to contest. He dropped back and guarded nobody.
On the next Cavs possession, Mitchell grabbed a rebound off his own miss because Randle and Immanuel Quickley were floating with their arms down and not even thinking about boxing out. Game over.
It’s this kind of stuff that infuriates Knicks fans. Randle can’t let his defensive effort die with his shot. It happens too often.
- Barrett was missed. The 23-year-old (can you believe he’s still only 23?) arguably has been the team’s best player this season, but sat Wednesday’s loss because of a sore knee.
Without Barrett, the Knicks shot 35% overall (yuck) and 17% on 3s (yuckier). Other than Barrett and Quickley, nobody is playing well on offense for the Knicks, including Jalen Brunson.