Update 6: 23 pm These talks are now getting serious, with the Knicks now willing to throw rookie lottery pick Jordan Hill into the mix if the Rockets will take on Jared Jeffries (owed $6.9 million next year) as part of the deal. Also, the Rockets would get either Al Harrington or Larry Hughes in the deal. Besides McGrady, the Knicks would get Joey Dorsey and Brian Cook. Jeffries told the New York Post he has been told nothing so far.
If the trade goes down in that framework, the Knicks would have in the range of $31 million to spend this summer -- just about $2 million short of enough to sign two max free agents. Who would be left to play around those free agents remains to be seen.
This deal may not go down today, but it seems to be picking up steam and may well become a reality before the deadline.
8:51 am It is not the prettiest of dances -- two team trying to move a lot of salary and a big name player while both protecting their cap space -- but they are dancing again.
They are the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets. According to Howard Beck in the New York Times, Knicks President Donnie Walsh and Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, spent Sunday talking about a Tracy McGrady deal. McGrady’s agent, Arn Tellem, was also in the room and we can assume not just to deliver sandwiches.
The Knicks and the Rockets are trying to make the trade without the assistance of a third team, but the Knicks may not have the pieces necessary. There is also the challenge of matching McGrady’s $23 million salary.
Any deal for McGrady would involve some combination of Knicks with expiring contracts -- Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, Darko Milicic or the retired Cuttino Mobley -- and a young player, possibly Jordan Hill, the Knicks’ 2009 lottery pick.
There’s not a lot of point in just trading expiring deals for expiring deals, so the Knicks want to throw in Eddy Curry, but it turns out Morey is not an idiot. What Morey wants is good young players, but the rebuilding Knicks are in no position to give up young talent for a deal like this. Still, Walsh and company would like to see if McGrady has anything left in the tank (he could be resigned at a more reasonable prices after the season when his deal expires if he does).
So, now they are talking about bringing in a third team. That, folks, is almost always the sign this deal is about to die.