Carmelo Anthony Hopes the Knicks Re-Sign Jeremy Lin


Despite publicly stating that the money Jeremy Lin is being offered on the market is “ridiculous”, Carmelo Anthony claimed last night that he would like for the New York Knicks to re-sign the young point guard. Per CBS Sports: “On the eve of their deadline to match the Rockets’ three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet for Jeremy Lin, the Knicks have yet to tip their hand. Multiple people involved in the process said that New York has not communicated its intentions to Houston or to Lin’s camp. But there was a school of thought in league circles Monday that the Knicks matching the massively back-loaded offer for Lin should not be ruled out. Doing so would require that one of the Knicks’ big salaries would have to be moved in the next two years or the team would face a potentially massive luxury-tax bill in 2014-15. If they matched Lin’s offer sheet, which calls for him to be paid $5 million next season, $5.225 million in 2013-14 and $14.9 million in 2014-15, the Knicks would have $80 million committed to five players in the balloon-payment year of Lin’s deal. Viewed another way, if the Knicks added the necessary players between now and then through the draft and other means, Lin’s nearly $15 million salary in 2014-15 would cost them $43 million, including $28 million in luxury tax under the new tax rates that take effect with the 2013-14 season. […] ‘I hope we can get it done, man,’ Anthony said after Team USA beat Brazil 80-69 in the Americans’ final tuneup on home soil before the London Olympics. ‘I would love to see him back. Honestly, I would deflinitey love to see him back. But knowing the business of basketball, it’s kind of a tough situation for both parties. For Jeremy, I know that he definitely wants to be back in New York and (Madison Square Garden chairman) James Dolan definitely wants him back. But it’s just a matter of figuring it out at this point.’ […] ‘I always get backlash; it’s nothing new,’ Anthony said. ‘It was ridiculous for them to do what they did as far as throwing that out there and making it tough on us to sign him back. That’s why it’s called free agency, though.'”