The Knicks didn't exactly break the bank in free agency this summer, as J.R. Smith's new $17.947MM contract represents more than half of the team's approximately $32MM in free agent spending. Still, that total is enough to qualify as the most money that any Atlantic Division club dished out, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors examined today. The crosstown Nets spent only about $12.6MM on free agents, but they absorbed plenty of salary in the blockbuster Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade. Here's more on the Big Apple's teams:
- The Knicks and Nets are poised to co-host All-Star Weekend in 2015 and possibly once more a few years later. Yet tension between Knicks owner James Dolan and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov was such that David Stern arranged a meeting early last season to clear the air, reports Fred Kerber of the New York Post.
- A source told Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com that the Knicks may sign someone without NBA experience to be the team's 15th man, but Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal thinks they'll choose a player with a track record instead.
- Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com rounds up a couple of Knicks items, noting that Beno Udrih and Andrea Bargnani are skipping national team play this summer, and pointing to the oft-overlooked positive impact Tracy McGrady had on the franchise.