Rumors With Receipts, Week 2: Dadiet's Option, Bridges Chatter, and What's Actually Moved

We're 4-4 after last night's 135-105 blowout of the Bulls at the Garden, and we head to Cleveland on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT on NBA TV, per the AP and ESPN's schedule. A week after our first Rumors With Receipts piece focused on the Karl-Anthony Towns contract, I went back through what has actually been reported since Oct. 28. The short version: one hard front-office move (Pacome Dadiet's fourth-year option), a lot of real coaching news around Mikal Bridges' minutes, and one New York Post column that people are already treating like a trade rumor even though Stefan Bondy said, flat out, he was neither reporting nor advocating a deal.

Same rule as Week 1. If I can't name the outlet and the reporter, it doesn't make the post.

The one receipt that actually moved the cap sheet

On Oct. 29, ESPN's Shams Charania reported the Knicks are declining their fourth-year option on 2024 first-round pick Pacome Dadiet, and Fred Katz of The Athletic confirmed it. Hoops Rumors has the numbers: Dadiet is already on a guaranteed $2,983,680 this season, and the declined option was worth $5,373,608 for 2027-28. He becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

That is not a surprise if you've watched the minutes. Dadiet has averaged 1.6 points in 5.2 minutes across 48 combined NBA appearances, including a one-minute cameo in his lone outing this season, per Hoops Rumors. The useful part for the title defense is the apron math. ESPN's Bobby Marks projected that if the options on Towns, Josh Hart and Tyler Kolek are all exercised next season, the Knicks would sit about $14.7 million below the second tax apron with nine players under contract in 2027-28. Declining Dadiet's option is how you buy a little oxygen without touching the championship core.

I still want size on the wings. Dadiet was supposed to be that long-term bet. Cutting the option doesn't mean they hate the kid forever — Charania noted they could still talk a new deal in 2027 free agency — but it does mean the front office is not paying $5.37 million next year for a project who hasn't cracked Mike Brown's rotation. Fair.

Bridges: the benches are reported, the "trade him" piece is not

This is where the internet gets sloppy, so let's separate the receipts.

What is reported: Mike Brown has not hesitated to sit Bridges in the fourth quarter. SNY's Ian Begley wrote after the Nov. 2 Nets win that Brown had pulled Bridges in the third quarter in three of the first seven games. Bridges finished that night with six points in 16 minutes on 1-of-7 shooting in the third, and Brown said he has to hang his hat on running the floor, cutting, rebounding and touching the paint until the shot comes back. Bondy of the Post covered the same benching, noting it was the second time in three games Bridges watched a comeback from the sideline. Hoops Rumors' Nov. 4 notes put him at 6.1 points on 30.8 percent shooting early, after averaging 14.4 a night last season.

I want Bridges and OG Anunoby together as the two wings. A cold start and fourth-quarter DNPs are not a trade report. They are a coach going to Shamet and Clarkson when the shot is not falling.

What is NOT a report: Bondy's Nov. 2 Post column arguing that, in a second-apron crunch, Bridges is the most expendable of the five highest-paid Knicks. Bondy wrote, in the piece itself, "To be clear, I'm neither reporting on such a move nor advocating for it." That is a beat writer thinking out loud about the cap, not Shams or Woj saying teams are calling. If a real reporter says New York is shopping him, I'll update. Until then, leave the trade machine alone.

Hart being out with right ankle soreness for Wednesday's Bulls game — first reported by James L. Edwards III of The Athletic and confirmed by Begley — is the other availability note that mattered. He had started all seven games at 31.7 minutes a night. Jose Alvarado returned from a left ankle sprain for the Nets game after missing four, per Begley and Bondy. Injury-report facts, not rumors.

Towns talks: still paused, no new negotiation report

Week 1 already covered the Oct. 9 pause, Towns telling The Athletic he was "very disappointed," and the reported four-year, $200 million offer against a projected $276 million max. I am not rehashing that file. For Week 2: I have not seen a named reporter say the two sides reopened talks. The pause is still the pause. Begley's earlier warning about a January pivot if nobody moves still hangs over the calendar, and Bondy's column is another way of saying the second apron and the Towns/Hart/McBride extension pile are the real story.

So here's where I land after the Bulls win. Watch the Dadiet option as the clearest apron move of the week. Watch whether Bridges' shot comes back before the rumor mill invents a destination. Watch Hart's ankle ahead of Saturday in Cleveland. And keep the Towns file open without inventing talks nobody has reported.

If you missed last night: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-bulls-recap-brunson-33-84-point-half-back-to-500. Week 1 receipts on the Towns contract: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-rumors-with-receipts-towns-contract-what-has-been-reported. For the early-season minutes picture: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-bench-check-who-earned-more-minutes. And for the NBA Cup math that still sits at 0-1 in Group B: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-nba-cup-2026-group-b-path-to-knockouts.