One more time, let’s jump in the WABAC Machine and visit the 2010 summer of free agency to think about how things might have been different…
According to the New York Post, at the stroke of midnight opening free agency, Amar’e Stoudemire and his agent were meeting with Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat brain trust. He was the target to pair with LeBron.
The Knicks were meeting with Joe Johnson and Mike Miller. (Joe Johnson, really? He struck you as a guy who could take on the weight of the Knicks franchise and would be good for years?). Mike D’Antoni and Stoudemire did speak briefly by phone that night, but it was just to set up a future face-to-face meeting.
Obviously, things ended differently. Dwyane Wade pushed for Chris Bosh, while Stoudemire got his offer from New York. It is possible the Heat talked to Stoudemire about taking less money to fit in James and Wade, but Stoudemire already had a standing offer to take less and stay with Steve Nash in Phoenix and that’s not what he wanted. The Knicks came through with the offer he wanted.
And everyone lived happily ever after.
