With the NBA schedule set to resume on Thursday, Joakim Noah hasn’t rejoined the Knicks, and head coach Jeff Hornacek indicates there are no plans for the veteran center to return to the team anytime soon. Asked whether Noah will remain away from the club, Hornacek replied, “I think that is the plan,” Newsday’s Al Iannazzone writes.
“We’ve moved on,” Hornacek said on Tuesday, per Ian Begley of ESPN. “He’s ready to move on and maybe have an opportunity somewhere else.”
Hornacek and Noah were reportedly involved in an altercation during a January practice, which resulted in the team and the player mutually agreeing that Noah would take an indefinite leave of absence. If Noah is to return to the Knicks before the end of the season, that decision would come from president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry, says Hornacek.
Despite having “moved on” from Noah, the Knicks have shown no desire to waive him outright, sources tell Begley. As of last week, the veteran had also shown no inclination to negotiate a buyout with the club, which isn’t surprising, given all the money he’s still owed. Noah has guaranteed salaries of $18.53MM in 2018/19 and $19.295MM in 2019/20.
After exploring trades before this month’s deadline, the Knicks could once again test the trade market for Noah this summer. Even with his contract one year closer to expiring though, he’ll be extremely difficult to move. New York would likely have to attach a first-round pick to get a team to take it on, an idea the front office has been unwilling to entertain.
As for whether or not the practice incident between Noah and Hornacek would stand in the way of the big man reporting back to the Knicks at some point, the head coach insists it wouldn’t be an issue.
“Things happen in practice, happen in meetings, happen in all kind of stuff,” Hornacek said. “We’ve dealt with that and that’s the end of it from us.”
Why would anyone trade for him? Hornacek just said they have moved on. They had zero leverage in a trade and everyone knew it. They will have zero leverage this summer too. They need to just buy him out, even if it means paying 100% of the money owed. This situation is one of the more toxic relationships between coach and player since Sprewell/Carlisimo.
If he doesn’t give up much money, which he shouldn’t because he won’t ever get a contract like this again, then there’s no point in the Knicks buying him out. He’s away from the team so he’s not a distraction, keeping him on the roster will teach him his lesson, and maybe slowly convince him to give up more and more money in a buyout. They have no leverage to trade his contract but they have complete leverage on him as a player.
I wish I could be taught a $20M a year lesson
I’m pretty sure Noah’s dribbled his last ball in an NBA game.
Highly doubtful. He’s still a good player. He’s have to take a substantial pay cut, obviously, but he’ll be back
on the floor again. Probably with the “Thibswolves.”
There is a huge point to buying him out. He is currently taking up a roster spot that could be used to audition a young guy on a 10 day. The Knicks have painted themselves into a corner and now have to play everyone with one less roster spot than their opponents.
The best thing that happened from the Derrick Rose trade is the Bulls not resigning this cry baby. You suck. Just enjoy your bloated contract and quit crying. You haven’t been good in 4 years.
Noah was never athletically gifted. Work ethic, intelligence and competitiveness made him a star for a short time.
Guys like that don’t last long in the NBA, especially with bad feet/legs. He was pretty much shot his last 2 years in Chicago. Everyone understood this except Phil Jackson. Not sure what he was thinking when he gave Noah that ridiculous contract. That’s the NBA for you.
never liked Noah
No way they’re releasing him or buying him out at full price, at least until the summer of 2019. Let him decide if he wants to play in the next 2 plus years or sit home and collect his full salary. The Knicks won’t have cap space until the summer of 2019 in any event, so the buyout would only need to reduce the last year of the contract (even if by 50%). That gives Noah 2 plus years to make about 9.5 mm to stay even. If he’s able to play, and I sense he is, that shouldn’t be too difficult. If he doesn’t go for it, then Knicks should keep him until the final year when his contract will be usable as an expiring one. They could stretch him in that last year too (since it would be only one year’s salary spread over 4 years). None of these options are available if he just release him or buy him out at full price any time soon.
More Knicks mess.
Less & less relevant.
Less & less interest.