New York Knicks Trade Rumors: Phil Jackson Has Talks With Three New Free Agents, Possible Trade Brewing?
New York Knicks trade rumors suggest the team is pursuing David Lee. Additional Knicks rumors have team president Phil Jackson having talks with three free agents. This all points toward the team making another move or two very soon. A report from CBS Sports late on Monday (July 6) has Jackson speaking with Alexey Shved, Caron Butler, and Willie Green. All three players could help add depth to the current roster, with Shved having played the 2014-15 season for the Knicks.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the Knicks just acquired Kyle O’Quinn from the Orlando Magic in a sign-and-trade deal. The deal involved the Knicks sending some cash and giving Orlando the right to swap second-round picks in a future draft. O’Quinn received a four-year, $16 million deal, helping give the Knicks some more size during the offseason. It continued a trend of adding good role players by Jackson, even if the team did miss out on the big prizes like LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan.
The most interesting of the remaining New York Knicks trade rumors floating around is that the team could acquire David Lee from the Golden State Warriors for very little in return. The Warriors are trying to dump the nearly $15.5 million he will make in the 2015-16 NBA season. The team is trying hard to get away from extensive luxury tax penalties and seems very willing to just give up Lee to make it happen. It gives teams with salary cap space an advantage, because they wouldn’t have to send back salaries. With those options, though, the Warriors would have to entice a team to pay Lee.
While it seems far-fetched that the Knicks could pull off that deal for Lee, it would certainly make a lot of fans happy to see him back in New York. He got his start there before taking a big free agent deal from the Warriors to head over to California. The more realistic options for the Knicks likely include possibly re-signing Alexey Shved, or simply adding Caron Butler and/or Willie Green. It’s possible that they could all be signed for the veteran’s minimum if Phil Jackson can convince them to. Green is a 33-year-old shooting guard and Butler is a 35-year old small forward. Any of these three players would come off the bench in New York.
It’s good to see that Jackson is still hard at work trying to improve a roster that suffered through a lot of losses in the 2014-15 NBA season. Signing Robin Lopez, Derrick Williams, and Arron Afflalo should help the team a lot, along with drafting Kristaps Porzingis, who could be a star in the league at some point. It would certainly be interesting if the New York Knicks trade rumors involving David Lee turned into something, but it is safer for fans to assume the Warriors will send him elsewhere. As far as free agency goes, it doesn’t appear that Jackson is done yet.
[Image Source: Nick Laham/Getty Images]
