New York Knicks News & Rumors

• The Knicks were considering matching Houston's offer sheet for Lin while also working on a contingency plan to potentially flip him to another team, according to SI.com's Sam Amick. I believe players whose offer sheets are matched can't be dealt for a year without their approval, so that scenario would have been complicated.
• Jay Caspian Kang of Grantland.com tries to make sense of the Knicks' decision, concluding that James Dolan was dealt a great hand and folded it.
• Lin's departure was a surprise to his former coach and teammates, according to an Associated Press report (link via New York Times).
• Before reports began to surface indicating the Knicks may not match Houston's offer, Lin never considered he wouldn't be returning to New York, says Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
• Ken Berger of CBSSports.com expects the Lin debate to eventually turn into a question of whether the Rockets were right to offer such a big contract, rather than whether the Knicks were right not to match it.
• The Knicks picked a bad time to start being frugal, writes John Hollinger in an Insider piece for ESPN.com.
• Tommy Beer of HoopsWorld breaks down the timeline of Lin's 2012, noting that the only rational argument against matching the offer sheet has little to do with on-court considerations.
• While the Knicks were angry at the Rockets for changing the reported terms of Lin's offer sheet, the team isn't upset with Lin, recognizing that he went after what could be his last chance at a big payday, says Marc Berman of the New York Post (Sulia link).
• Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post argues that the decision needs to put in perspective, pointing out that the team still has its best player in the fold.
• Lin's departure likely won't impact Madison Square Garden's stock as much as people expect, writes Christian Red of the New York Daily News.

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5:41pm: Beck tweeted that he's been assured that the Knicks will not reverse their decision.

3:29pm: In his piece for the Times, Howard Beck notes that there is an "incredibly small" chance the Knicks change their minds before tonight, but that as of now, the decision is considered final. The team is expected to announce its decision later tonight.

3:11pm: The Knicks are done deliberating and have decided not to match the Rockets' offer sheet to Jeremy Lin, according to Howard Beck of the New York Times (via Twitter). The decision, which had been due by midnight tonight, means that Lin will become a Houston Rocket, signing a three-year, $25.1MM deal with the club.

After publicly giving every indication early in the offseason that they'd be bringing Lin back, the Knicks balked when the Rockets re-negotiated the point guard's offer sheet to include a $14.9MM third-year salary. Under the Gilbert Arenas provision, the Rockets are allowed to spread Lin's cap hit evenly over the three years of the deal (about $8.3MM annually), but if the Knicks had matched, they would have to pay $5MM in year one, $5.225MM in year two, and $14.898MM in year three. That third year would have come in 2014/15, when a number of Knicks players, including Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Tyson Chandler, are set to make max or near-max money.

Still, with relatively small salaries in the first two seasons of the deal, and two years to figure out their approach for year three, it's rather surprising to see New York decide not to match. Even if Lin turned out to be no more than a bench player, his $14.9MM expiring contract in 2014/15 could have been used as a trade chip, or waived using the stretch provision, reducing the team's cap and tax hit.

For the Rockets, the news is good — had the Knicks matched the offer sheet, Houston would have been left looking at a free agent market featuring point guards such as Jonny Flynn, Derek Fisher, and Delonte West. With New York electing to let Lin walk, Linsanity will head south to Houston, back to the team that waived him in December.

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• Multiple sources informed Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that the Knicks have yet to convey their intentions to either Lin or the Rockets. However, Berger says that "in league circles" there's a belief that the Knicks could still match the offer.
• Fred Kerber of the New York Post is hearing similar rumblings, with one rival GM telling Kerber that he's "not convinced" the Knicks let Lin walk.
• Within Berger's piece, he also notes that Carmelo Anthony voiced his support for retaining Lin, despite calling the contract "ridiculous" over the weekend: "I hope we can get it done, man. I would love to see him back. Honestly, I would definitely love to see him back. But knowing the business of basketball, it's kind of a tough situation for both parties. For Jeremy, I know that he definitely wants to be back in New York and James Dolan definitely wants him back. But it's just a matter of figuring it out at this point."

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