The Knicks have been the “most persistent pursuer” of the Rockets’ Tracy McGrady. New York believes that acquiring T-Mac would solve some of their cap issues for 2010. The sticking point? The Knicks insist that Jared Jeffries must be in the deal. Here’s how Chris Sheridan of TrueHoop described the situation:
“It has been well chronicled how Jeffries and teammate Eddy Curry are standing in the way of the Knicks’ master plan of plans, with their cap-clogging contracts (Jeffries is due to make $6.9 million, and Curry is on the books for $11.3 million) hindering New York’s ability to go or come close to going after two max-level free agents next summer. But if they were able to move one of them (and trading Curry is a virtual impossibility) and take back an expiring contract in return, it would allow the Knicks to either go after a second max free agent in a sign-and-trade deal (in which David Lee and Nate Robinson would be the bait), or to have enough cap space left over after signing a max free agent to retain Lee.”
Essentially, the Knicks won’t be able to sign a max free agent and keep Harrington or D-Lee without taking on an expiring contract. Speculation is that the potential deal with the Rockets could include Harrington, Jared Jeffries, and Cuttino Mobley (expiring contract being paid by insurance). Those players would account for about $26 million of cap space against T-Mac’s $23.2 million. The problem is that the Rockets aren’t that interested in the deal. The Knicks have no first round pick in 2010 and few useful parts to send to Houston.
On top of that, Tracy McGrady doesn’t seem too keen on being dealt. The Rockets small forward says that he’d like to sign an extension with his current team. He even hinted that he may be willing to take a pay cut:
“Money is not an issue for me. If it boiled down to it, I got a great, great adidas contract. So money is not an issue. I just want to win. That’s my main focus. At this stage of my career, it’s all about winning. I don’t care about a max contract or nothing like that. I want to play basketball, and I want to win. … There’s no question (about wanting to return to Houston). I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, but definitely this is where I’d love to be.”
So as you can see, the Knicks don’t have much leverage in this situation. The chances of McGrady landing with the Knicks are probably slim-to-none. However, it will be interesting to see how New York goes about dumping either Jared Jeffries or Eddy Curry. At some point, they’re going to have to make a deal that frees up some (read: a massive amount) cap space.
Tags: basketball, eddy curry, free agents, jared jeffries, NBA, new york knicks, salary cap, tracy mcgrady, trades
