NY Knicks: The Knicks decided to let the rights of Jeremy Lin fall to the Rockets. Lin, who was the Talk of the Town just months ago, fell to a knee injury before the playoffs. Yet he was still regarded as one of the most sought after free agents this year.
Lin is a restricted free agent, which meant the Knicks had to match the offer of anyone bidding for him. In this case, it was a 25 million dollar contract. The Knicks intended to match the offer, originally claiming to match any offer up to a billon dollars. Joke or not, the Knicks would’ve made a billion dollars back in a week’s time with the ticket sales.
Since linsanity began, the Knicks generated over 600 million dollars in tickets. Lin seemed to be devastated that the Knicks didn’t match the offer – at least that’s what was portrayed in the media. In reality, Lin could’ve signed an offer that was about 10 million less to stay with the Knicks before testing the market. The Knicks in the long run made the correct move. The luxury tax would’ve made Lin’s 14 million dollar salary in the lag year of his contract over 30 million. With Raymond Felton, who put up all star numbers in his stint with the Knicks before, and veteran future-Hall-of-Famer Jason Kidd in the mix, I think the Knicks will be just fine.
Romel Lherisson: PureSportsNY