Jeremy Lin could be a former Knick by midnight Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Knicks have until the end of Tuesday to decide whether to match the three-year, $25.1-million offer sheet the wildly popular Lin signed with Houston. The offer includes a $14.89-million “poison pill” in the third year that prompted Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony to call it a “ridiculous contract” and might make the organization cut ties with Lin.<\/p>\n
The Knicks haven’t commented since Lin received the offer sheet, but they finalized the trade for point guard Raymond Felton Monday, which could signal the end of Lin-sanity in New York.<\/p>\n
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Knicks had still not commented. A report in the New York Times, citing an anonymous source, said the Knicks would not match the offer. As of 5 p.m., the Houston Rockets had not been informed of any decision.<\/p>\n
The Knicks had every intention of matching offers for Lin, a restricted free agent who averaged 17.7 points and 8.2 assists in 25 starts and was even more valuable to them from a business and marketing standpoint.<\/p>\n
But the Knicks can’t be happy that the terms of the deal Lin originally agreed upon with Houston changed. It was a four-year, $28.8-million contract, and the fourth year was a $9.3-million team option.<\/p>\n
Besides perhaps being upset that they were blindsided by the addition of about $5.6 million in the third year, the Knicks will face immense luxury-tax ramifications if they match.<\/p>\n