5 reasons New York Knicks should trade for Derrick Rose
By Brad Weiss
3. Knicks have cap space.
The Chicago Bulls will be required to pay Derrick Rose $21,323,252 million in 2016, the final year of a contract that was given to him after his MVP season in 2011. Since then, Rose has been in declining health and production, and a new All-Star guard has emerged in the person of Jimmy Butler. The Bulls will likely want to get rid of one of them entering the 2016-17, and Rose seems to be the obvious choice.
The New York Knicks will have the cap room to take on that kind of salary, as they expect to have between $18 and $30 million in cap space this summer. That number will all depend on whether or not Arron Affalo and Derrick Williams pick up their player options.
If only one or none of them pick up their option, the Knicks will have enough money to take on Rose’s salary.
The Knicks actually have no draft picks in this year’s draft, and they really do not have many bargaining chips to give the Bulls, so taking on Rose’s entire paycheck may be the only way to get him from Chicago. Trading Rose to the Knicks would free up over $21 million for a Bulls team that ranks near the bottom of the NBA in cap space heading into the summer.
The Bulls will likely listen if the Knicks come calling.
Next: 2. A New York Big 3.