Grades: Knicks Make Massive Offer To Flawed Tim Hardaway Jr.
Slowly but surely, the Knicks were inching toward a future where Carmelo Anthony was elsewhere (whether waiving his no-trade clause, opting out elsewhere in a year or walking after 2019) and Joakim Noah was the team’s only albatross of a contract. Tendering this massive $71 million offer to Tim Hardaway Jr., a flawed player with whom the team is already familiar, effectively nukes that scenario. If the rebuilding Hawks match, they won’t grade much better for this; as it stands, it’s tough to give the Knicks much credit for this line of reasoning.
Hardaway Jr.’s salary starts at $16.5 million next season and ends at nearly $19 million for 2020–21, which is a player option year. His deal also reportedly includes a 15% trade kicker. Why would the Knicks even consider doing this? The answer, one would suppose, is that Hardaway is still just 25, enjoyed a bit of a breakout last season in Atlanta and can shoot the basketball, although he struggles on defense and is not much of a creator offensively.
