Jeremy Lin holds the fate of the New York Knicks in his hands.
No, I'm not talking about on the court. I'm talking about off it.
You see, Lin is a restricted free agent this offseason, as every Knicks fan knows and dreads. That means that if another team gives Lin a lucrative offer, the Knicks have to match it or risk losing their up-and-coming point guard.
No big deal, right? You give Lin what he wants because he averaged 18.2 points, 7.7 assists and two steals in 25 starts this season. You don't squabble over a couple million dollars.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, it's much more complicated than that.
The problem is, given the current cap structure, the Knicks need to sign Lin for $3 million or less if they want to make other moves this offseason, as New York Magazine points out. If Lin demands more than that (say, $5 million), the Knicks will be stuck with a hard cap, meaning they will only have $3 million more to spend on other players. That could potentially see Steve Novak, J.R. Smith and even Landry Fields gone by next season.
Of course, you can't exactly say Lin is being selfish if he ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Ryan Rudnansky
Jeremy Lin: Upstart Must Take Less Money to Help New York Knicks
May 15th, 2012 by Ryan Rudnansky Leave a reply »
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