New York Knicks Salary Cap 2026-27
Live cap sheet vs the real luxury-tax and apron lines, plus contract table and cap-space FAQ.
Apron ladder
What can the New York Knicks afford?
What can NYK afford?
Taxpayercomputed live · verified floorEvery number below is a CBA-engine computation on NYK's verified 2026-27 contracts ($205.5M floor) — what this front office can actually do in the market, not a projection.
NYK can take back at most $174.4M in any single trade on the verified floor — bound by the apron hard cap, not the matching bands. Hard cap binds first: taking back more than $174.4M would carry the team past the first apron (engine-verified). The matching band alone would have allowed $213.6M.
- Take-back capped at 125% + $100K of outgoing salary.
- Expanded matching cannot be used to cross the first apron ($209.0M).
Exception tools (mid-level, bi-annual, minimums), sign-and-trades and Bird rights are outside this engine's model — CapDesk shows only what it can compute on verified data, never an estimated exception value. Mid-offseason the floor undercounts unpriced players, so cap room reads high — see the Data Ledger for what's verified.
New York Knicks on the wire
Reading the league wire…
Display only — wire items never change the contract table above. Roster and salary figures move exclusively through the verified salary pipeline (Basketball-Reference cited; reported deals surface amber with citations). Method + corrections: Data Ledger.
2026-27 contract table
| Player | Pos | 2026-27 cap hit |
|---|---|---|
| Karl-Anthony Towns | C | $57.1M |
| OG Anunoby | F | $42.5M |
| Jalen Brunson | G | $37.7M |
| Mikal Bridges | G | $33.5M |
| Josh Hart | G | $20.9M |
| Jose Alvarado | G | $4.5M |
| Miles McBride | G | $4.0M |
| Pacome Dadiet | F | $3.0M |
| Tyler Kolek | G | $2.3M |
| Ochai Agbaji | G | — |
| Jaden Akins | G | — |
| Tony Bradley | C | — |
| Bruce Brown | G | — |
| Jordan Clarkson | G | — |
| Mohamed Diawara | F | — |
| Andre Drummond | C | — |
| Drew Eubanks | F | — |
| Kevin McCullar Jr. | G | — |
| Tyler Nickel | F | — |
| Landry Shamet | G | — |
| James Wiseman | C | — |
| Team total (verified floor) | $205.5M |
“—” = no verified 2026-27 cap hit on file (never a guessed number). Figures tagged rep. are cited REPORTED deals (estimated flat from the reported total/years) — not yet verified on Basketball-Reference; two-way deals don't count against the cap. Team total counts verified contracts only, so it reads as a floor mid-offseason. Verification method + corrections log: Data Ledger.
Frequently asked
How much cap space do the New York Knicks have?
As of October 12, 2026, the New York Knicks are over the $165.0M salary cap by roughly $40.5M on verified contracts, so they have no cap space and must build via exceptions (MLE/BAE), minimums and trades.
What is the New York Knicks' total payroll for 2026-27?
Their verified 2026-27 payroll is $205.5M ($205,460,628), summed from 9 verified contracts across a 21-man roster. This is a floor — it counts only guaranteed cap hits CapDesk can source, so unpriced players read as "—".
Are the New York Knicks over the luxury tax or an apron?
As of October 12, 2026 the New York Knicks are over the luxury tax ($205.5M). The 2026-27 luxury tax is $200.4M, the first apron $209.0M, and the second apron $221.7M.
How far are the New York Knicks from the first and second apron?
On verified contracts they are $3.6M under the first apron ($209.0M) and $16.2M under the second apron ($221.7M).
Who is the highest-paid New York Knicks player in 2026-27?
Karl-Anthony Towns carries the largest verified 2026-27 cap hit on the roster at $57.1M ($57,078,728).
What is the biggest salary the New York Knicks can take back in a trade?
On their verified 2026-27 floor, the CBA engine puts the New York Knicks' largest legal single-trade take-back at $174.4M — sending Karl-Anthony Towns + OG Anunoby + Jalen Brunson + Mikal Bridges ($170.8M), bound by the apron hard cap rather than the matching bands. Exception tools (MLE/BAE/minimums) are outside the engine's model and are not estimated.