Sources: Knicks, GM Scott Perry parting ways after six seasons
Scott Perry and the Knicks are parting ways, league sources confirm.
Perry is on an expiring contract and league sources said he is currently exploring other options.
He had been the Knicks’ general manager since 2017-18 when he was first hired by Steve Mills in the 2017 offseason.
Mills was let go in 2020 and replaced by Leon Rose who retained Perry as his general manager, inking the executive to a one-year contract shortly after the 2019-2020 season. Perry then signed a multi-year deal with Rose and the Knicks in the 2021 offseason.
I don’t know if the Knicks and Perry had discussions about another contract. It’s a bit strange for a team to not retain its general manager following a season as promising as the Knicks’ 2022-23 campaign.
New York outperformed all rational expectations this season, winning 47 games and a first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the second round, New York lost to a Miami Heat team that is preparing for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Knicks enter the offseason with some promising young players and 11 first-round picks over the next seven drafts. The plethora of picks is partially the result of the hard line Mills and Perry took against trading first-round picks.
Mills and Perry traded Kristaps Porzingis in 2019 with the hope of signing two superstars in the summer of 2019. They failed to land Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving or any other big names on the market.
After Durant and Irving signed with the Nets, New York pivoted to players open to signing short deals with team options.
As a result, Rose & Co. inherited a relatively clean salary cap and a surplus of first-round picks.
Of course, Perry’s resume in New York contains both hits and misses. The Knicks under Mills and Perry missed on their 2018 first-round pick (Kevin Knox). They also dismissed the first coach they hired (David Fizdale) after 1.5 seasons. But they drafted Mitchell Robinson in the second round in 2018 with a pick that was acquired from Oklahoma City in the Carmelo Anthony trade. Perry’s trade of Marcus Morris Sr. to Los Angeles netted the Knicks a first-round pick that they used to select Immanuel Quickley in the 2020 draft.
We can debate each transaction made during Perry’s six years as general manager, but there’s no question that his presence gave the Knicks continuity in the front office – something that’s eluded the franchise for much of the past two decades.
It will be interesting to see where the Knicks go from here. Former Timberwolves president Gersson Rosas was added as an executive last season. The Knicks could give Rosas the full-time position or promote another front office member, such as assistant general manager (pro scouting) Frank Zanin or assistant general manager (college scouting) Walt Perrin. Brock Aller already has a vice president title (Vice President, Basketball and Strategic Planning), so it would be an odd transition for him to move to general manager.
Given the number of executives in the New York front office, it would be a bit surprising if they hired someone from the outside as the next general manager.
Perry and the Knicks parting ways was first reported by Newsday.
