As he finishes up the final season of his five-year, $100 million deal with the New York Knicks, Amar’e Stoudemire says he desperately wants to play for a title contender.
STAT, 32, assuming the perpetually-rebuilding Knicks (5-35) would even want him back, isn’t so sure that he’d be willing to play in Gotham any longer.
Stoudemire has posted averages of 13.1 points and 7.4 rebounds this season, but a troublesome right knee has sidelined him for the past nine games.
Per Newsday:
“It’s a very difficult situation at this point,” Stoudemire said before the Knicks practiced at Imperial College Tuesday. “It’s a hard decision for me to make because my loyalty has always been with New York and the New York Knicks. It would be tough right now to make the decision as far as going somewhere else at this point. It’s something I got to think about. I’m sure over time, I’ll think about the best scenario for myself.
“For now, I know I’ve been through injuries throughout my career, so I want to make sure I’m able to be strong enough and prepared to play for a team that’s contending for a championship. With New York, we’re trying to rebuild, so hopefully, that will be sooner than later.”
“We don’t have the best record in the league at this point, so you don’t want to go out there and hinder yourself for the future,” he said. “So you want to be very cautious about things and make sure I’m healthy for the rest of this season and also the future.” […] Knicks president Phil Jackson already started rebuilding last week, trading veterans J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert and waiving Samuel Dalembert. Jackson promised more changes in the next month.
