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NBA GM says he couldn’t reach Knicks’ Phil Jackson before trade deadline

Phil Jackson

New York Knicks president Phil Jackson watches from the stands during the second half of the Knicks’ NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. The Pelicans won 110-96. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

AP

Knicks president Phil Jackson isn’t always reachable.

But those complaints have come at lower-stakes moments, like when the team’s biggest star is upset, in the middle of the season and during a coaching search.

Surely, Jackson was available in the lead up to the trade deadline, right?

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:

One NBA general manager told me last week in New Orleans that his team “can’t get a hold of Phil. It’s crazy.”

Jackson makes $12 million annually to delegate to Steve Mills. And their boss, Knicks owner Jim Dolan, says he’ll keep this arrangement in tact.

On one hand, good for Jackson bilking Dolan. Wouldn’t we all love a high-paying, barely-show job if we could get one?

On the other hand, this is just getting sad for the Knicks. They made no trades before the deadline then released Brandon Jennings. No-trade-clause-holding Carmelo Anthony, whose value is diminishing, can’t get on the same page as Jackson, because Anthony doesn’t even know what book the franchise reading. Joakim Noah is likely out for the year, and the aging injured big man still has three more costly years remaining on his contract.

Just a few years of Jackson’s negligence could cost the Knicks deep into the future.

But at least he drafted Kristaps Porzingis.