NBA: The winners and losers of the 2021 free agency period

Winner: New York Knicks

MSG is splurging this offseason. The New York Knicks had such a fulfilling and hopeful year in 2021; reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2013, landing their first All-Star in Julius Randle since the days of Carmelo Anthony, and overall just having a very well-engineered roster from top to bottom that knows their roles for the most part.

These are all great points of interest when a team amongst the top 5 in cap space enters free agency. The Knicks have long had disappointing off-season after off-season, but this year they were finally able to capitalize. For starters, they landed four-time All-Star and New York native Kemba Walker from Boston on an exceptional deal.

The only problem is Walker, who was their best signing, is the only deal the Knicks made this Summer where they didn’t overpay. They re-signed many of their role players like Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks, and Derrick Rose, but spent a little more than they should’ve on doing so. Obviously, if you’re the Knicks with the cap space it isn’t as dreadful of purchase, but after signing Evan Fournier for four years, $73 million, it can put things into perspective.

The Knicks really want to stay relevant now they’ve gotten back to that point for the first time in almost a decade, but it’s showing a bit much when they drop all this money on players that are most likely not going to be able to take them to the promised land.

The Knicks will be a playoff team at best with this roster which is a huge win for the team when you look at all the despair and misery the organization had gone through for quite some time. The Knicks are celebrating small victories in hopes they can help turn into big ones.