Alec BurksReuniting with the Knicks via trade deadline proved to be one of the healthiest storylines of the season.
After spending two seasons under Tom Thibodeau In New York, Burk’s salary was dumped to Detroit to make way for Jalen Brunsonand the devastated Knicks got him back with him last February Bojan Bogdanovic for Quentin Grimes and design consideration. After struggling mightily to finish the regular season, Burks blew up as a last resort in the playoffs.
With such high aspirations and much bigger priorities on the roster, should the Knicks keep Burks or let him walk?
This would have been a foregone conclusion at the end of the regular season. Burks shot in the low 30 percent range from all ranges and scored 6.5 points in 13.5 minutes per night through 23 games after rejoining the club.
He played himself out of the rotation between the decline of a hot halfseason in Detroit and the defense not being up to Thibodeau’s standards. Some of his struggles were likely due to him being thrust into more of a creation role while the Knicks were dealing with a barrage of injuries.
But the hope that Burks would step up as a postseason emergency backup turned from a meme into reality. After playing 44 seconds in the first eight games of the playoffs, Thibodeau needed another man and Burks delivered: 17.8 points per game on 51 percent shooting from the field and 42.9 percent from three.
Burks played like it was 2021, rushing over pick-and-rolls, connecting inside on his way to 6.4 free throw attempts per night and pulling up from mid and deep range without hesitation. The performance made outsiders wonder why he was benched in the first place and could entice the Knicks and other teams to bid for Burks’ services.
Does the broader market rely on a five-game preview of the season’s most important minutes or 23 games of shlock? While the real answer probably lies in the middle, with Burks creeping toward 33, his biggest contracts are certainly behind him.
Burks made $10 million per season over the past three years and could be a target through the mid-level non-taxpayer exception of $12.8 million, or a smaller $5 million per year exception from a contender. There will likely be at least an assured role on the bench elsewhere, while the Knicks are vastly short of being able to offer Burks anything close.
Barring a mass exodus, Burks sits deep on the depth chart ahead of whomever the Knicks draft, sign, re-sign or acquire in a trade. New York has so far avoided the luxury tax Leon Roos In this era, they won’t break that streak by re-signing Burks, and if they do cross the threshold it will be to strengthen the roster at the top and fill the backend with cheap contracts.
As nostalgic as it is to have Burks, he’s probably not loyal enough to turn down more money and a bigger role. There’s a chance the Knicks could offer one of those things, maybe even two, but with the bigger moving parts it seems more likely that Burks will part ways again.
