It’s no secret the Knicks plan to target Greg Monroe this offseason and one league executive called it “about as close to a done deal as you can get,” Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports. While Isola notes that a done deal is illegal under the terms of the CBA, he points out that a more likely scenario is that representatives of both parties have made their interest known. Monroe’s agent, David Falk, has had a relationship with Phil Jackson for over 20 years, going back to when Falk represented Michael Jordan. Falk is looking for a maximum salary contract for Monroe and Isola suggests the Knicks will offer him one.
Here’s more from the Big Apple:
- Monroe is one of the players whom Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders believes would be a realistic free agent target this offseason. Beer also names Wesley Matthews, Patrick Beverley, Draymond Green and Tobias Harris among other potential targets.
- Coach Derek Fisher said Lance Thomas and Langston Galloway have changed the team’s culture and Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork (Twitter link) believes it’s more evidence that the Knicks will want the forward back next season. Thomas will be a free agent at the end of the season.
- Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork looks at how prospects whom the Knicks could select with their first-rounder fared in the NCAA tournament and suggests that Karl-Anthony Towns would a better choice than Jahlil Okafor if New York landed the top pick in the draft.