It’s another edition of Knicks‘ Mailbag with SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley ready to answer your questions surrounding the team. Let’s get started…

---

 

Am I correct in thinking that trading just Kolek would not open enough enough salary cap space to sign both Shamet and Brogdon? It would have to be a trade for either Pacome or Deuce, right? – @_leeescobedo 

Thanks for the question, Lee. Some background first: the Knicks have signed Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamet to nonguaranteed contracts ahead of training camp. If they want to keep both players on the regular season roster, they will have to trade one of their players signed to a traditional NBA deal. They need to do this because their team salary cannot exceed the second apron this season. There are many different trade routes the Knicks can take to keep both Brogdon and Shamet. 

A trade of either Pacôme Dadiet or Miles McBride would clear enough cap space to sign both veterans. The Knicks can also trade Tyler Kolek and have enough space under the second apron to sign both Brogdon and Shamet. But, to Lee’s point, trading Kolek and signing both vets would leave New York just $44,000 under the second apron. Unless they made another trade, in this scenario, the Knicks wouldn’t be able to sign another veteran on a pro-rated contract during the season. New York used this approach last season when signing veteran P.J. Tucker in March. Cap expert Yossi Gozlan expertly explained these trade scenarios in his Third Apron Substack.

I don’t think the Knicks will make a trade ahead of training camp. I’d expect them to let things play out during camp/preseason before they made a move to keep both Brogdon and Shamet. But if I’m betting today, I’m betting that both Brodgon and Shamet are on the regular season roster. This Knicks team is in win-now mode, and injuries to Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton give them a direct pathway to the NBA Finals. Veterans like Brogdon and Shamet are preferred options for a win-now team like the Knicks. 

Quick hitters: 

I’m confused. What’s difference between 2 way, exhibit 10 & exhibit 9? – @NorthsideNabeel 

You are not the only one, Northside. Exhibit 9 deals protect teams if a player gets injured during camp or the preseason. Teams need to have 14 players on the roster before they can sign Exhibit 9 contracts. If a player doesn’t have an Exhibit 9 deal, a team will be financially responsible for the player’s salary/rehab if they get hurt during camp. This is a risk most teams want to avoid. And it’s part of the reason the Knicks waived Dink Pate ahead of camp. Pate was on an Exhibit 10 deal, so the Knicks didn’t have injury protection there. If he set foot in camp and got hurt, the Knicks would be fiscally responsible. ESPN CBA expert Bobby Marks provided a clear definition of Exhibit 10, Exhibit 9 and two-way deals in a recent tweet. 

Do you think Melo’s number will get retired by the Knicks? – @NyCitee

I can’t tell you that I know with 100 percent certainty that the Knicks will retire Carmelo Anthony’s number. When Anthony retired, I know there was strong support internally within MSG to retire Anthony’s number. In checking around about this over the past couple of weeks, I can say that there remains strong support internally for retiring the number. Again, I can’t say with 100 percent certainty that the Knicks will retire his number. But the internal discussions about the topic have continued in recent weeks. The decision to retire — or not retire — Anthony’s number will ultimately be made by owner James Dolan. 

NEW ROLE FOR GREEN AT OTE 

A Brooklyn native is taking on one of the biggest jobs in basketball. 

Khalid Green has been elevated to the head of recruiting at Overtime Elite, one of the preeminent development basketball programs in the country. 

Green recently spoke to SNY about the new role. 

“With Overtime Elite, my focus is on the second word in that title: elite players with elite attitude and obviously elite skill set,” Green said.  

Green has hit the ground running, landing top class of 2027 players in guard Anderson Diaz and big man Caleb Ourigou. Diaz and Ourigou — both from New York City — will join NYC native and big man Asher Elson at Overtime. 

He relishes the opportunity to compete with other high schools, development programs and top colleges for the best players in the country. 

“If I were to give it a comparison in terms of cars, this place is a Bentley truck,” Green said of Atlanta-based Overtime Elite. “You have to maintain it, it gives you great resources and it produces at a high rate. But I’m the caretaker now so I have to make sure the upkeep is right and the people that I let ride in the car don’t abuse it and respect it.”

“There’s no eating, drinking or smoking in this car, man,” Green adds with a laugh. 

When he pitches Overtime Elite to potential recruits, Green can sell players and their families on the facilities, top trainers, coaches and a media outlet. 

“We can help (players) on a micro and macro level. On a micro level, if a kid wants to come in here and put on weight, then we have the strength and conditioning program to activate to make sure he puts on weight,” Green says. “If a kid wants to come in and get their jump shot right, on a micro level, we can help with that. Get them to shoot 200, 300 400  jump shots a day. We can track it with our AI system and our technology. We don’t do any guessing; everything is done through metrics and data.”

“Everybody’s aligned to get these kids to get to the next level,” Green adds. 

Green has been a fixture in local and national basketball circles for over two decades. He coached at Abraham Lincoln High School, Benjamin Banneker High School, and Bishop Loughlin High School. He also worked for the Nets as a scout and later in community relations. He worked in the same department for the Knicks. 

He’ll lean on the relationships he’s built over two-plus decades in basketball to help his players at Overtime Elite. 

“I have friends that are general managers, I have friends that are scouts, friends that are top college coaches and they pick up my call right away,” he says. “When I call I’m not calling for me. I’m calling as an advocate for these young men. I’m calling to get their name out, get input on what these executives are feeling about our players and relay that info back to he and his family.”

As a young grassroots coach in Brooklyn, Green recruited two of the top players in their class in Doron Lamb and JayVaughn Pinkston to play for him. He’ll have the same mindset in his new role at Overtime Elite. 

“I’m always going to swing for the fences,” Green said. “JayVaughn at the time was top 5 in country, Doron Lamb — same narrative. I always believe I’m a magnet for big-time players and I want big-time players.”

Subscribe to The Kevin O’Connor Show

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Subscribe to The Kevin O’Connor Show

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Shohei Ohtani added yet another item to an already unprecedented résumé on Tuesday.

With a solo homer in the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ star became the sixth player in MLB history to post 50 homers in back-to-back seasons. He had 54 long balls last season, which was the first 50-homer, 50-stolen-base season ever.

Naturally, Ohtani hit this home run after throwing five no-hit innings earlier in the game.

The other five players to post consecutive 50-homer seasons: Babe Ruth (1920-21), Mark McGwire (1996-99), Ken Griffey Jr. (1997-98), Sammy Sosa (1998-2001) and Alex Rodriguez (2001-02). Obviously, McGwire and Sosa later had their runs tainted by steroids, while Rodriguez had his own PED allegations in his career.

On the mound Tuesday, Ohtani struck out five in five hitless innings before manager Dave Roberts pulled him at 68 pitches. His lone blemish: a first-inning walk of Bryce Harper.

Ohtani left the mound with the Dodgers up 4-0, but a Justin Wrobleski meltdown in the sixth inning quickly gave the Phillies the lead. The Dodgers tied the game in the eighth, but one more meltdown from Blake Treinen gave the Phillies a 9-6 win and continued a rough stretch for the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Per Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, the Dodgers became the first team since 1906 to get five no-hit innings from a starting pitcher and then have their bullpen allow at least nine runs.

[Get more Los Angeles news: Dodgers team feed]

Ohtani joins Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber in the 50-homer club this season, making 2025 the third season ever to feature three players hitting 50 homers. The other two were 1998 and 2001, which both had four 50-homer players.

There’s also the fact that Ohtani is the only MLB player ever to hit 50 homers and throw 50 strikeouts in the same season (Ruth stopped pitching regularly the year before his first 50-homer season).

This homer is the latest step in Ohtani’s push for a fourth MVP award and his second in the NL. If he pulls it off, he would join Barry Bonds as the only players to win MVP at least four times (Bonds won seven times), and he’d be the first player to ever win the award multiple times in both leagues.

Since joining the Dodgers, Ohtani’s bat has been better than even his prime with the Angels, with whom he won MVP awards in 2021 and 2023 and finished as runner-up in 2022 (Aaron Judge’s 62-homer season). His return as a pitcher is a work in progress — the Dodgers are still limiting him to five innings per start — but it goes without saying that he has so far delivered on his record-shattering, $700 million contract.

At age 31, Ohtani already has a list of accomplishments unprecedented in baseball — to the point that two seasons with 50 homers is just another fact in the pile.