On June 28, 2017, just days after the NBA Draft and on the eve of free agency, the New York Knicks agreed to part ways with president of basketball operations Phil Jackson. The general manager during Jackson’s run as POBO, Steve Mills, ascended to the top spot. He began searching for a general manager to work with him in guiding the Knicks moving forward.
On July 14, 2017, Mills struck a deal to hire Scott Perry as the next general manager of the team. Perry was hired following a short — but successful — stint in the Sacramento Kings’s front office, and had previously cut his teeth as an executive in Orlando, Detroit and Seattle.