Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks are not demanding Carmelo Anthony take less money to re-sign, but they are challenging him to do so.

“He’s the one that opened that up that it wasn’t about the money. So I challenged him on that because I want our fans to see he’s a team player, that he’s going to do what was best for this team to get ahead farther and faster. It’s not going to be an issue,” Jackson said. 

Anthony can make a maximum of $22.54 million in his first season. A max contract with the Knicks would give him raises of 7.5 percent on that number in each successive season. So if he wanted to take a pay cut, Anthony could accept less money in the first year of his contract and then take maximum raises in each successive season. 

Under the rules of the CBA, his salary can fluctuate by a wide range from year to year. If Anthony were to re-sign with the Knicks, his salary could increase or decrease by 7.5 percent from year to year. 

So Anthony, in theory, could agree to the maximum amount in Year 1 of his contract and then accept a pay cut of 7.5 percent in Year 2. 

That would leave his salary for Year 2 at 20.85 million. That’s a savings of $3.4 million compared to what Anthony would get in the second year of a max contract with maximum raises.