The Knicks have rejected a proposal from the Clippers to trade power forward Zach Randolph, league sources told SI.com. Terms of any proposal were not known, but the Clippers have enough salary-cap space to accept Randolph's contract without having to give the Knicks equal salaries in return. The Clippers, seeking to replace the departed Elton Brand, were trying to take Randolph off the Knicks' hands while offering little more than cap relief to New York, the sources said. Randolph will make $14.7 million next season, and he has three years and $48 million left on his contract.
I love it. The Knicks may be under new ownership, but they just struck out on a golden opportunity to shed huge amounts of salary. But don't take my word for it. Here's what Knickerblogger has to say:
You have to hope that Donnie Walsh knows what he’s doing here. Because getting rid of Randolph fits in perfectly with his plan of getting under the cap by 2010, and many Knick fans would love to see what David Lee could do as the full time starter...
On the other hand if you’re seeing the cup half empty at this point, you’re wondering if Walsh has lost his mind. Because those are the only plausible reasons for Walsh not saying "Hmmm lemme think about that for a - YES I’LL DO IT! Ahem - I mean yes, that’ll do." Randolph is not needed on this team. He wasn’t needed last year when the Isiah acquired him for basically nothing. He doesn’t give the Knicks anything they need (shooting - check, rebounding - check, poor defense - check, man breasts - Curry still on this team? - then check).
So it is nice to know that the Clippers are still the Clippers (losing all their best players) and the Knicks are still the Knicks (stuck in salary cap purgatory).