New York Knicks star Iman Shumpert was mentioned in trade talks earlier in the summer after a disagreement with team owner James Dolan about playing in the summer league and now that the time has passed, the star said he is not worried about the rumors and is focused on basketball for this season.
According to the NY Post, Shumpert said that he has no issues about the trade, which came up after an outtake went online from a Stephen A. Smith interview with Dwight Howard revealed that Dolan was angry with Shumpert and possibly wanted to trade him. The issue came up that Shumpert did not want to play in the summer league for the Knicks, but eventually the 23-year-old played in one game before finishing up.
Shumpert said that he wasn't worried about the rumors and that now he is focused on playing his best this season as the team tries to make a championship run. The team signed a number of players, including JR Smith, Pablo Prigioni, Beno Udrih as well as Kenyon Martin. Shumpert likely will play more than last season after healing up from a knee injury last year and he was one of the top players in the playoffs for the team.
"That's fine, that's the media,'' Shumpert said at yesterday's Delta Open event with U.S. Open's No. 1 seed Serena Williams at Madison Square Park. "Things get blown up in this day and age, with social media. It's crazy. That video got out there and stuff happens. I'm happy to be a Knick. I'm worried about business."
Shumpert dealt with recovering from a left ACL injury last season and once he was fully healthy, he showed the explosiveness and athleticism that the Knicks love in him. While Dolan said he wanted to trade him, clearly that has not happened and no far it appears as if it won't be happening, at least not this offseason. Shumpert averaged 6.8 points, 1.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds last season and in 12 postseason games he averaged nearly 10 points and played stellar defense as the Knicks won a series against the Celtics and lost to the Pacers.
Last season the team went 54-28 and ranked seventh in scoring defense while ranking 11th in points per game. The team hopes to improve in both areas and adding Smith will play a big part in that. The team also can sign Carmelo Anthony to a five-year extension in February, according to ESPN.com, which would come ahead of free agency in 2014.