3 Knicks Who Won’t Return for the 2024 Season

Similar to the last two offseasons in the Big Apple, the New York Knicks will have a lot of financial and roster construction decisions to account for this summer as they look towards advancing closer to championship contention in 2024. 

Through the first two years of the Leon Rose regime, the Knicks seemed to hit lightning in a bottle with their slew of free agency and trade deadline acquisitions. They nailed the signing of rising star guard Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract in 2022 that has paid dividends with the elite performer he has become. They also lured incredibly gritty and complimentary pieces in Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby, all players that fit the Tom Thibodeau system and add talent to different areas of the game that shone this past season. 

As the team heads into this offseason on the heels of their elimination in the second round of the NBA playoffs, their objective will be to retain as many of these core players as possible for the long term while simultaneously upgrading the depth beneath them. It was that weakness that came to roost on the postseason stage as injuries ravaged the rotation, meaning there are names destined to hit the road to open up spots for the incoming moves that could be made this summer. 

The Knicks have seven total players that will be free agents at the start of the 2024 league year, including three guys that had to play huge roles late in the postseason run and a few more on two-way contracts. Some of these pieces could get retained and involved in a blockbuster deal if New York finds a trade suitor for one of the top-tier names looking to shift homes to the big city. 

Either way, the Knicks have found their foundation behind the Villanova trio of Brunson, DiVincenzo and Josh Hart and are expected to return with a solid starting five once Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson are fully healthy. What’s next is deliberating who should remain a part of the future and who will take the team to the next level that they fell just short of in 2023. 

1. Alec Burks

A two-time member of the Tom Thibodeau-led Knicks, Alec Burks made his return to New York after being traded at the February deadline from Detroit with Bojan Bogdanovic. The two players were acquired to restock the rotation with an offensive boost that was lost from the earlier Toronto trade involving RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, but the results just never panned out for Burks until he was pressed into extended minutes in the postseason. 

Appearing in 23 games for the Knicks post-trade, Burks averaged 6.5 points per night on 30.7% shooting from the field. That efficiency marked the lowest point of his 12-year career at the professional level and it fell slightly lower behind the three-point line where he averaged just 1.1 made shots on 3.6 attempts and 30.1% in the same span. 

During his first tenure with the franchise, Burks was one of the best sharpshooters on the team and even made a name for himself as a faulty point guard when the Knicks lacked one. That created the hope that his familiarity with Thibodeau’s system would jive in the second go-around to give the bench unit a wing offensive injection, but instead Burks saw just five games with double-digit points, seven with at least two threes made and his exile from the rotation for the remainder of the regular season. 

Give credit where it’s due for his efforts on the postseason stage, as Burks stepped up and gave the Knicks four games of 21+ minutes and 14 points in the second round against Indiana. He made a final positive impression in Game 7 when he fought to keep New York in the rout with a tenure-high 26 points on 61.5% shooting from the field, but there doesn’t seem to be a long-term fit with the veteran who was brought back as an “all in” rental and figures to fall down the depth chart returns. 

Letting Burks walk will remove his $10.48 million cap hit from the Knicks’ books and allow them to use it to strengthen the reserves with a player that will shoot more efficiently and play more comfortably in a defensive-minded system.