The NBA seemed to have sobered up from its 2016 spending spree, and the free agent market had tightened up. Patrick Patterson was the best example, he signed a three-year, $16.4 million contract — a year ago he would have gotten that much a season. The days of overpaying guys just because teams had the money had gone away.
Then the Knicks said, “hold my beer...”
They came in with a four-year, $71 million offer sheet for Hawks’ restricted free agent Tim Hardaway Jr. It was an offer that baffled front offices and agents around the league, and was way more than the Hawks’ logical offer of four-years, $48 million. The Hawks have decided they are not going to match, reports Adrian Wojnarowski, so the Knicks get their man.
Atlanta will not match New York's $71M offer sheet to Tim Hardaway Jr., but official notification still hours away, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2017
Bobby Marks of ESPN adds the details.
Hardaway grew into a solid NBA player while in Atlanta, and last year averaged 14.5 points a game shooting 35.7 percent from three. He doesn’t provide much defense, but he can be part of the rebuilding in New York and the Knicks certainly could use shooting. They just overpaid for it.
Just to remind everyone, the Knicks drafted Hardaway but traded him for Jerian Grant, whom they traded for Derrick Rose, who is a free agent but the Knicks have to renounce him to sign Hardaway to this deal. It’s the circle of life, Knicks style.
