Knicks Making Moves! NY Preparing To Sign Diawara, Nnaji & McCullar To NEW Contracts | Knicks News

Knicks Making Moves! NY Preparing To Sign Diawara, Nnaji & McCullar To NEW Contracts | Knicks News

The Knicks are still making moves. New York is preparing to sign their young players to new contracts. We’re talking about Mohamad Diawara, James Naji, and Kevin McCuller Jr., but you’re not going to believe which contracts these players are going to receive. We’re going to break down all of these latest reports today. If you’re enjoying the content, please hit that subscribe button and have notifications turned on so you don’t miss any new content. And now, let’s get started. The Knicks continue making moves. The Knicks aren’t only making free agency moves during the off season. They’re also deciding what type of contracts to give out to certain players. We just saw them resign Mikuel Bridges. And now, according to reports, New York is preparing to give new contracts to Kevin McCuller Jr. and Mohamd Diwara. Shout out to Ian Begley of SNY for giving us this following information here. According to him, New York’s team salary cannot exceed the second apron, 207.8 million. They have enough money to sign a rookie free agent and a veteran to a minimum deal. With regards to that rookie free agent and that second round exception that they can use, it seems to me that Kevin McCull Jr. is the best candidate for that contract. Begley continues here by answering the following question on the latest edition of his mailbag. He was asked, “Has Dio shown enough to earn a two-way contract?” And according to Ian Begley, he gave the following response. I think he has. He had some really strong stretches in summer league. A two-way deal would give Diwara a great opportunity to spend some time with the big club while getting some reps in Westchester. I don’t know about you guys, but this is pretty surprising to me. I thought it was almost inevitable that Mohamed Dawara would be receiving that second round rookie exception from the Knicks. But from the sounds of it, it looks like Kevin McCull Jr. will be receiving that second round exception. And Mohamd Di Awara, he is still going to stay with the Knicks, but likely on a two-way contract. And if you actually think about it and break it down, this actually makes a lot of sense. With Mohamd Di Aara, even though he’s much further along than any of us even anticipated, he still needs work. He’s still a project. He’s still not ready for the NBA level. But one of the reasons I wanted the Knicks to even give Mohamad Diawara that second round rookie exception is because I wanted him to spend significant time with the GLeague club because I know if he spends time there, he’s going to develop the right way and maybe next year or maybe in two years, he will be the player the Knicks are looking for off the bench. He has all the skills, the tools, and the ability to be a very impactful player for the Knicks off the bench in the future. He just needs to be developed. So whether it’s on a second round exception or a two-way deal, as long as he stays with the Knicks and gets the opportunity to play with the Knicks main team and with the Westchester team, I’m more than happy with it. And it sounds like that’s exactly the opportunity Mohamed Daware is going to get. Going back to Kevin McCull Jr., when you take a look at this Knicks roster, they need more size. Yes. They need a ball handler. Yes. And they need a player that can do a little bit of everything and can defend multiple positions. When you’re thinking about a player like that, maybe some of you already are thinking about Ben Simmons, who the Knicks are currently waiting on in free agency. But if you look at the players the Knicks currently have on the roster, Kevin McCuller Jr. checks all of those boxes as well. He will not cost you anything in terms of a roster spot. And he has a chip on his shoulder. He’s motivated. He is tall enough to be a wing, but he’s a point guard. And he can playmake. He can score. He can rebound. He can do a little bit of everything when he’s out there on the floor. He’s Josh Hart 2.0. And likely, if you let him develop and give him more years in the NBA, he could potentially become an even better player. Definitely on the defensive end because defensively already he’s very good. If you give him more opportunities, he can get better on that end. And that is exactly why New York is giving him this opportunity, giving him this second round rookie exception because it helps him. It helps New York moving forward. And let’s just say at some point in time in the future, the Knicks are dealing with an injury at the guard position. And you have a player like Kevin McCuller Jr. waiting in the wings. That is a great player to have if you’re dealing with injuries and the fact that he’s basically going to cost you nothing. These are the type of moves you need to make as a Knicks team trying to get a championship as a Knicks team very close to the second apron that still wants to better this team, wants to add more talent to this team, but does not want to exceed the second apron. The only way to do that is to elevate the rookies. And I’m very happy to hear that Mohamd Dawara and Kevin McCuller Jr. are going to receive new contracts with the New York Knicks. But that’s not all New York is likely going to do moving forward. We have just received a new report about James Naji, a player who the Knicks received rights to once they completed that trade for Carl Anthony Towns. Apparently, James Naji told his main team in Barcelona that he wants to leave them to pursue a career in the NBA. Let’s break down these latest reports here. Shout out to New York basketball on the app X for breaking down this information for us. According to them, James Nagi was released by Barcelona today after informing the team he wanted out to pursue the NBA. Nagi averaged 3.2 2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game for the Knicks during summer league. The 6’11 20-year-old was drafted number 31 in the 2023 NBA draft. The Knicks got his rights in the Carl Anthony Towns deal. And clearly, if you are asking out of a team where you can definitely play next season and you’re trying to pursue a career in the NBA, you’re not doing that by accident. You’re not doing that and taking a chance. The main reason you’re doing it is because you likely know a deal is waiting for you in the NBA. And that deal might come in the form of a two-way contract from the Knicks for James Nagi. And I would not be surprised by it. One main reason, ladies and gentlemen, and if you watch the summer league, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Defense. When he was inserted into the game and he was getting all of those fouls, why was he getting those fouls? Oh, right. Because he was covering for Tyler K and absorbing those fouls. But what else was he doing? Oh, he was blocking shots, moving his feet in the right position, getting rebounds, pushing the ball up the floor, making his presence felt inside, and making sure he was aggressive. These are the type of players we need to add to this team. It’s not like they’re growing on trees. It’s not like the Knicks have all of these draft picks laying around that they can wait for this type of talent to fall to their lap. if they find it either in the second round or they acquire draft rights to a player via a trade. No matter how they land young talent on this roster, it is up to this Knicks organization to identify what players are breaking out, doing better than expected and develop that talent. And how do you develop that talent? by draft and stashing them or by signing them to a contract either to a second round rookie exception contract or to a two-way contract. I think we understand how you do it. You identify talent. You give them contracts that allow them to stay with this team that give them opportunities to play with the main team and with your G-League affiliate and giving them more experience at the NBA level, at the GLeague level. And once you continue to do that, they can develop potentially into the players that you’re going to need off the bench in the future. And the best part about all of this is New York has brought in new head coach Mike Brown. And Mike Brown, when it comes to the rookies, he loves to identify talent. He loves to play talent and he loves more than anything else to develop talent. So, right now, all of these young players couldn’t have asked for a better head coach to be playing under than under coach Mike Brown. And speaking about Mike Brown, I don’t know if it’s Mike Brown, this new roster, or whatever the case may be. But if you take a look at the odds for the Knicks win total for next season, you’ll see it’s pretty high. Shout out to channel sponsor FanDuel for giving us these following odds today. According to FanDuel, New York’s regular season win total for 2025 2026, they have the Knicks over 53.5 wins at 1118 and under 53.5 wins at minus 112. So, these are the odds for where the Knicks are going to land next season. Let me know how you feel about those odds and if you agree with them or not. And looking on the other side here, FanDuel is not done yet. They have also given us these latest odds on the NBA Cup winner. According to FanDuel, the 2025 NBA Cup tournament winner could potentially be the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have the best odds at plus40. And then right after them, a very close first, but in second place, the New York Knicks at plus 550. Then you have the Cleveland Cavaliers at plus 650, the Rockets at plus,200, the Denver Nuggets at plus 1,200, and the Orlando Magic at plus 1,200. So really, this is a three-man race. The Thunder, the Knicks, and the Cavaliers. Everybody else, they’re a long shot. the favorites. We clearly see who they are. Shout out to FanDuel for breaking all of this down for us. Am I surprised by these odds? Am I surprised that the Knicks in nearly all of these odds are near the top to win it all? Of course I’m not. Look at the pressure the Knicks have going into this season. Last year, they went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals and they fired their head coach. The message, you need to do better. What’s better than the ECF? Let me think. Oh, yeah. The NBA Finals. That’s the goal. The Knicks need to make it there. If the Knicks, in the process of getting to the NBA Finals, win the NBA Cup, I’m going to be happy about that. I’ll be ecstatic. I’ll celebrate it. Not the exact same way I would celebrate a championship, but I would still celebrate it. However, the goal is to win a chip. But what about you guys? What do you think about the Knicks making all of these latest moves? Let me know in the comments section below, guys. Because honestly, I would love to hear from you. But that’s going to do it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, go ahead and smash that like button, leave a comment below, and of course, guys, please subscribe to the channel. Until next time, Nick fans, take care of yourself, your families, and each other. Peace and

The Knicks CONTINUE making moves! This time, it’s their rookies getting the attention. According to reports, the young players on the Knicks in James Nnaji, Kevin McCullar Jr & Mohamed Diawara will likely receive new contracts from the Knicks. But I was a little surprised at which contracts each player was going to receive. Leon Rose continues to make smart moves during the offseason that set NY up for future success… Troy Mahabir breaks all of this down!

SHOW CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Intro
00:41 – Knicks CONTINUE Making Moves
01:11 – Kevin McCullar Jr Receiving 2nd Round Exception
01:55 – Mohamed Diawara Likely Receiving Two-Way Contract
03:45 – KMac Likely Receiving 2nd Round Exception
06:21 – James Nnaji Leaves His Barcelona Team
08:32 – Knicks MUST Develop Any Talent It Find Immediately
10:06 – FanDuel Odds For Knicks Over/Under Win Total For Next Season
10:40 – FanDuel Odds For Knicks To Win The NBA Cup
12:25 – Knicks Have One Goal: TO WIN A CHIP!

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