The first move in the NBA free agent market was made yesterday when All Star F Amar’e Stoudemire signed a 5-year, $99.7 million deal with the New York Knicks yesterday. Stoudemire will be reunited with his former coach from the Phoenix Suns Mike D’Antoni and gives the Knicks a lot more credibility. I think New York made the move to sign Stoudemire to increase their chances of bringing in LeBron James. The Knicks had little to offer James in terms of a winning franchise but had enough cap room to sign two big time contracts this offseason. By adding Stoudemire the Knicks have now narrowed their target to James and to a lesser extent Dewayne Wade as the spot F Chris Bosh would fill is the same as Stoudemire’s.
This move makes a lot of sense for the Knicks. Amar’e was the guy LeBron wanted the Cavaliers to bring in at the trade deadline last year to help make a playoff run and Stoudemire has already said that he will reach out to James and try to recruit him. His presence offers both Wade and James a legitimate running mate and combo-ing either of them with Stoudemire would instantly make the team relevant in the East. Also if the Knicks fail to bring in either Wade or James they have made enough of a splash to generate some excitement with their fans instead of bitter disappointment in not signing James. I think the Knicks now have the same chance as the Chicago Bulls to sign James or Wade but as always with the situation nobody really knows. James is expected to make his announcement either Wednesday or Thursday so it’s wait and see until then.
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