Knicks Sign Tim Hardaway Jr for $71 Mil

The New York Knicks have Shanghai’d the Atlanta Hawks out of Tim Hardaway Jr. At $71 Million over 4 years. It sounds over the top but , it’s  not that bad considering the NBA’s economic climate and TH2 is an up and coming athletic wing that can play D and knock it down from distance when properly motivated. The irony is that the Knicks drafted Hardaway Jr. and traded him for Jerian Grant who was traded for Derrick Rose who is now a free agent and really isn’t expected back to the Knicks. One could Argue that Knicks brass is just trying to correct a previous mistake. But without being a fly on the wall in the GM’s office and not being directly connected to any “Sources” per se. The thinking involved could be anything ranging from Boolean logic to “Pinky and the Brain” level take overs.

The Hawks were probably not too miffed by the $71 Mil offer sheet on the surface. No team could offer more than what the Hawks could so it couldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Few people realize that NBA teams actually “have” to use what’s available on their cap sheet. So the cash has to go to somebody right? The part where they were Shanghai’d is that Ney York put in a provision where 50% of the salary had to be paid by October 31st of each season. Granted it’s still the same $16Mil plus per season. But paying out half of that pretty much upfront in a month of the year where the team is practically generating no revenue and spending big money already on marketing for the upcoming season just made little financial sense. Only Jim Dolan could sign off on something so asinine. Kudos on creatively utilizing the “Poison Pill” strategy. Why back load the deal when you can front load it for 4 consecutive seasons?

So at the end of the day the Knicks get a player that they probably should not have traded in the first place and the Hawks get to truly go all in on their rebuild. Whether or not other teams will pick up on that strategy for restricted free agent offer sheets remains to be seen. Brings new meaning to putting your money where your mouth is.