Jeremy Lin’s return to the New York Knicks not a surety after all – NBA News
Since Jeremy Lin’s emphatic arrival onto the NBA stage and a quick and disappointing departure from the 2011-2012 season with a knee injury, fans and analysts alike have predicted that Lin will re-sign with the New York Knicks.
Such has been the relationship between the player, the club and the city. Lin has found a great deal of fame and fortune that only a player in New York can enjoy and loves every bit of it and has made his intentions clear of returning
to the Knicks. The feeling seems mutual, however it turns out that Lin may not return to the Big Apple after all.
Lin is a restricted free agent and the New York Knicks are waiting for a team to put up an offer which they can then match to land his services. They are saying that they want the market to decide Lin’s price. However, if Lin is
offered a back loaded multiyear contract, the Knicks might not be able to match it after all.
The Toronto Raptors are one team that can offer Lin a back-loaded contract. They are aggressively pursuing Steve Nash at the moment and have given him a three year $36 million offer. However, if the Raptors are unable to sign Nash,
Lin might be one of their backups. Nash is said to be getting offers from the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns.
The Knicks can offer Lin a four year deal worth $24 million. However, a back loaded deal could see Lin making much more than that over the course of his contract. If he is offered a deal that pays $5 million each over the first
two years and $10 million each over the next two, the Knicks will be unable to match that offer as they already have Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler on their roster, as players who are commanding big salaries. If Lin is also given a big
salary, they will enter the luxury tax threshold and with the new CBA in place, they would not want that.
Lin is a hot commodity this season in the free agent market, despite the presence of point guards such as Steve Nash and Deron Williams. He is one guard who is coming off a marvellous season and will not cost any team looking to
sign him too much money initially. Dallas, Toronto and Brooklyn are all said to be interested in Lin as well.
The Knicks decision of letting the market decide the value of Jeremy Lin might back fire. At the moment, they are hoping that he does not command too much of value, because it will make it difficult for them to match it and retain
his services.
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