2:17pm: The buyout between the Knicks and Noah is expected to be finalized either Monday or Tuesday, per Marc Berman of the New York Post.
9:12am: The Knicks are close to a waive and stretch agreement with veteran center Joakim Noah, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. No matter when the agreement is finalized, Noah will not report to training camp.
Several teams may have interest in signing Noah, notes Charania, who adds that he has put in a lot of work over the offseason (Twitter link).
Noah’s reputation has suffered greatly during his two years in New York. He was a recent All-Star and was considered a team leader when former Knicks president Phil Jackson gave him a four-year, $72MM contract in 2016.
Noah performed poorly during his first year with the team, posting a 5.0/8.8/2.2 line in 46 games, then fell apart completely last season. He opened the year under suspension for using a banned substance, then clashed with ex-coach Jeff Hornacek over playing time, resulting in a suspension in January that he never returned from. Noah appeared in just seven games throughout the season.
Noah still has two seasons and $37.8MM left on his contract. He is owed $18.53MM this year and $19.295MM in 2019/20, although both numbers could be reduced in a buyout agreement. The main focus for the Knicks is maximizing cap room for next summer, when they hope to be able to offer a maximum salary in free agency.
Can’t see how there’d be room for him but seems like a dude that would buy into a Brad Stevens defense.
noah + unicorn = butler
Celtics should sign him, they don’t have any size.
Lol knicks. Hopefully he doesn’t take a penny less than what the rest of the deal is.
I guess this means Noah is next to join the TimberBulls?
No chance Noah signs w TimberBulls. I hope he doesn’t give back one penny. He should force the Knicks to pay him every cent they owe. That being said, I definitely could see him sign w Boston for the vet min after he gets waived and stretched. That would be a nice add for the Cs
I would want all but the vet minimum paid out. He is gonna get that with someone. Otherwise I would ride it out and cash dem cheques. He owes the Knicks nothing.
And I still think Knicks are handicapping themselves if they do buy him out, and stretch him. Just bite the bullet. Anything else will cause more pain in the long term.
What makes you think there is no chance he signs with wolves? Lots of turmoil right now, but I can still see Thibs going for it.
Only thing Tibs is going for is a vacation. He will be fired before the end of the season, or quit before it begins.
There were previous reports that MIN was not interested.
Like @DXC says, teams cannot reverse stretchs. I think stretching him now cuts into capspace 2019 to 2023. Also they could wind up having to play against a mad version of Noah. Also Dolan was supposedly against stretching.
Head-scatching strange stretch!
Knicks don’t need to W&S him now (the cap space result is the same as W&S next summer). Keeping him home was the smarter move. Next summer they’ll know if using the stretch provision is a good move. Now, their just guessing. They can’t reverse the stretch if they can’t get the FA they seek. A small discount isn’t that meaningful, as it will go half to this season and only half to the stretch amount (so only 1/6th of the discount comes off next year’s cap space).