The New York Knicks like their chances of re-signing Carmelo Anthony. According to the New York Post, Anthony has confidence in Phil Jackson to keep the team improving and is leaning towards accepting a max contract to remain in the Big Apple for the long term. However, the Knicks will have to pull some strings to make that happen in the form of trades which appears to be easier said than done.
The first player on the trade block is Amar'e Stoudemire and his $23 million salary this season. Stoudemire has an expiring contract to his name paired with decreasing stats and increasing injuries. That makes him ideal to move first, but difficult to get a team to accept. During the 2013-14 season, Stoudemire's minutes reduced drastically, only playing 22.6 per game while he also had career lows with 11.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. New York has been pushing deals for most of the offseason, but so far no team was interested.
On Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers emerged as a possible taker for the forward. Jackson contacted the team since they have the most cap space of anyone in the league and look to be loading up on expiring deals. The Post reported that Philadelphia was interested in taking on Stoudemire, but would also want one more player to sweeten the deal. However, now they appear to be backing out.
Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders is reporting that the 76ers are now unlikely to take on Stoudemire simply because of the weight of his contract. The Knicks continue to run into this issue. Stoudemire opted into the final year of his deal as expected, but the Knicks cannot afford to have that along with a max contract to Anthony. If Stoudemire is unable to be traded, New York will push a deal for Andrea Bargnani who is also working on an expiring contract.
New York might not be getting the help they had originally expected from Philadelphia. The team had also apparently agreed in principal to accept a trade for Jeremy Lin, but Del Lynam of CSN Houston is reporting that it is not a sure-fire deal because the point guard is too expensive towards the cap space. Houston general manager Sam Hinkie is running into the same issue Jackson is having where one player's contract is killing the cap space and yet no one will accept a trade for him.
Once Anthony makes his decision, interest regarding Stoudemire could heat up. He is certainly not the player he once was when he was a free agent four years ago, but if the Knicks are desperate enough, they will find someone to take him off their hands.
