Iman Shumpert will not escape the trade rumors for the entire season. No matter how well the shooting guard players or how many games he starts, Shumpert will be considered good as gone during all of the 2014-15 seaosn. That is something he cannot escape considering his contract has a team option for next year and the Knicks are looking to free up salary cap space for bigger names than his. However, both Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher like what they see from the young star which might be enough to save him.
The Knicks have exactly five days to determine if they will be picking up that last year on Shumpert's contract. The odds are not looking good for the shooting guard. Unless New York makes a surprise move before Friday, this will be Shumpert's final year with the Knicks before he hits free agency. However, just because the Knicks do not plan on picking up his team option does not mean that he will be traded at the mid-season deadline.
"I think Iman is still evolving," Fisher said, via ESPN.com. "And I don't think there is a box to put him in at this point. I think he's still growing as a player, as a young man. And I think as that evolution continues, we'll actually learn as we go what is truly possible for him. The things I do know is he's going to work as hard as he can to get wherever his ceiling is and those are the types of guys you want to have around."
Shumpert's name has come up too many times to count in trade rumors. The Knicks look poised to deal him to the Cavaliers or Clippers last year, but never finalized the move. He also survived an offseason full of talk to get into training camp and compete for the starting spot. If Shumpert plays well this year, he will survive another trade deadline and head into free agency ready to get a nice pay raise. It just probably will not be with the Knicks.
Another player that is in his final year with the Knicks is Amar'e Stoudemire and the forward has a lot to prove if he is going to get a nice contract in free agency. That could start on Wednesday when Stoudemire will likely get the starting nod after an injury to Andrea Bargnani knocked him out for the first set of games. If Stoudemire can have the bounce-back year he continues to stress is possible, his future will be looking much better.
