The New York Knicks had a few different free agents on their board but agents have been working quickly with other teams to secure big money deals for their clients. One of the players who seemed like a sure bet to the Knicks came out and basically ethered them while killing the reports.
This is the type of foresight Carmelo Anthony might lack. West doesn’t want to take a big payday and get stuck somewhere he doesn’t want to be.
Bob Kravitz of WTHR:
West said the rumors about him going to the Knicks are ridiculous; he wants to be with a contender; the Knicks don’t qualify.
“At this point in my career, it’s all about winning, and again, I don’t want to be in a position where we’re just fighting to make the playoffs, I want to be in a spot where we can legitimately taste the finals,” West said.
For what it’s worth, West also didn’t like the Pacers’ public case to convince Roy Hibbert to opt out. West, via Kravitz:
“That’s one thing where I wish they would have handled better was the situation with Roy,” West said. “I’ll be honest with you, that bothered me a little bit, and I told Roy that. I’m the type of guy who feels like we’re all in this fight together and I’m not designed in that way to put it all on one guy. That did rub me the wrong way. That threw me off. I started reading some of that stuff, I started thinking, ‘Whoaa.’ I just didn’t feel good about that. I told Roy that it bothered me, that he’s still my teammate.
