If any clubs offer Jeremy Lin a backloaded contract that pays him an eight-figure salary in the third and fourth years, the Knicks may think twice about matching the offer, sources tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. With a more punitive luxury tax in the years ahead, paying Lin upwards of $10MM in 2014/15 and 2015/16 could prove to be extremely costly for the Knicks.
The Raptors may be the only team that might consider offering Lin a “poison pill” deal. Earlier today, Toronto offered Steve Nash a three-year, $36MM deal but could turn to the Knicks guard if they are rebuffed.
Matching such a contract would give the Knicks four players in Lin, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler making more than $14MM in 2014/15 season. Those four players alone would earn $72MM, nearly $2MM above the luxury tax.
—–
Jeremy lÃn is so freaking overrated. I mean he had like 15 good games and in my opinion you have to credit D’Antonies system. That system is Pro-point guard. If he sins with the Knicks under browns cosching he wont average more than 6 assists. How many isolations plays will melo have? The only way he will play great is if he plays a great pick and roll with Amare.
In the 7 games he played (before injury and post D’Antoni) he averaged 13.2 pts, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and they went 6-1 in that stretch – and that’s only averaging 28 minutes during that time. With D’Antoni he only averaged a couple of points and 1 or 2 more assists per game (with less minutes). Considering he’s not even close to being the focal point of the team, that’s pretty damn good for a 23 year old pg.
Clearly a report the Knicks put out there to scare teams away from driving up his price.
(To Harris, botched reply) Report? That’s just a fact. No team can offer him more money, period, UNLESS they offer a significant amount after the initial 2 years. If anything that’s something the Knicks wouldn’t want people to know in case there’s a team desperate to do so.
Delete