New York Knicks: 3 positive takeaways from an up-and-down offseason

The RJ Barrett situation has been settled

At least in my humble opinion, there were two main goals for the New York Knicks heading into the offseason – to try and dramatically improve the roster (via free agency or trade) and settle the RJ Barrett situation. Whether that was to sign him to an extension or wait until next season under some sort of agreement, there needed to be some resolution between the Knicks and Barrett.

And after some uncertainty, the Knicks and Barrett reached an agreement on a huge extension (four-year, $120 million). Even though there has been some pushback on this deal, it was something that the Knicks had to do.

Either the Knicks had to go all-in with Barrett (while giving him an extension) or it was going to be clear that they didn’t fully believe in him. I’m not sure that’s something the Knicks could afford to do to his confidence.

Barrett is a good player that has the chance to blossom into a star. Now that the Knicks have proven their belief in him with this contract extension, perhaps everything is set up for a true breakout season for Barrett.