Knicks breaking up roster to create more cap space…
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Carmelo not shutting down for the season: Anthony eager to play through knee pain.
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Knicks trade Smith and Shumpert to Cavaliers: Knicks clear more cap space.
The New York Knicks are in rebuild mode after trading both JR Smith and Iman Shumpert earlier this week, and point guard Jose Calderon might be next to go.
While reports continue to suggest that the franchise is encouraging Carmelo Anthony to shut it down for the season and rest his sore knee, they ploughed ahead with their cap space saving strategy by trading both JR Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.
The Knicks received a 2019 second-round Draft pick in the deal and three players with non-guaranteed contracts, but ultimately they will have put themselves in a better position ahead of free agency.
It is clearly another sign that they are ready to tank this season and put themselves in the best position to improve next year.
However, it is understood that they haven’t finished yet and veteran point guard Calderon may be next on the list to be moved on.
“With the Knicks now owners of the worst record and perhaps worst roster in the league as Phil Jackson hits the reset button in New York, league sources say the next player on the move could be point guard Jose Calderon. But at age 33 with two years and more than $15 million left on his contract, that will be a difficult proposition. Calderon came to the Knicks in the trade that sent Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas,” Ken Berger at CBSSports.com reports.
“The Knicks are expected to try to re-engage the Thunder in talks for point guard Reggie Jackson after being rebuffed in their efforts to land him in Monday night’s three-team deal, sources say. Jackson would fit into the $2.6 million trade exception New York received in the trade with Cleveland and Oklahoma City, but the Thunder have been steadfast in rebuffing trade offers for the point guard.”
Calderon has seen a decline in his play in New York but while some suggest that is down to injury and natural decline, he has also been working with a roster lacking quality talent around him.
Nevertheless, it appears as though he may well remain with the franchise until the end of the season at least as many of the top teams competing for a championship this year appear set at point guard.
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