New York Knicks Andrea Bargnani Trade Falls Through Last Minute; Knicks Fans Rejoice But Deal Still Happening
The New York Knicks almost pulled off a trade last night that would have sent former top overall draft pick, Andrea Bargnani, to the Knicks in exchange for picks plus Steve Novak and Marcus Camby.
But the deal was waylaid by the NBA's refusal to accept the various components in time to get it done before the NBA's free agency period kicked off, as first reported by Howard Beck of the New York Times.
UPDATE: Knicks trade for Bargnani will NOT be approved by NBA tonight. As a result, teams will have to restructure under 2013-14 cap figures
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) July 1, 2013
Once the clock struck midnight last night, announcing July 1 and moving the NBA officially into the 2013/14 season, the contracts no longer worked and the deal was blocked.
Knicks and Raptors both still motivated to do the deal, but it will have to be tweaked once the 2013-14 salaries kick in on July 1. — Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) July 1, 2013
Now both sides are stuck because despite the NBA's free agency period starting on July 1, it's also the NBA free agency moratorium, so teams aren't allowed to finalize deals until July 10.
It's now being reported that the calendar change won't prevent the Knicks and Raptors from continuing talks, and it appears, via ESPN.com's Marc Stein, the Knicks only have to include a minimum-level salary to make the deal final.
It'll either be Quentin Richardson or Earl Barron who will get a nice one-off paycheck to make the deal work as part of a sign-and-trade to the Raptors.
Earl Barron or Quentin Richardson probably in line for sign-and-trade payday in Knicks/Raps deal. Not a Bogans-style payday, but a nice one
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 1, 2013
It appears that Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the deal has been finalized, the teams will just have to wait until July 10 to finalize.
Raptors just completed trade the of Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks, a source told Yahoo! Sports. — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 1, 2013
Here are the final terms of the deal, at least according to sources right now: The Knicks receive Andrea Bargnani, the top pick in the 2006 draft, but one of the most disappointing top picks in recent NBA history.
In order to get Bargnani, the Knicks had to give up Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, two future second round draft picks, and—in what has to rankle Knicks supporters the most—a 2016 first round draft pick.
NBA observers believe that newly hired Toronto GM, Masai Ujiri, has gotten the better of Knicks GM Glen Grunwald, by forcing his hand with the 2016 first round pick.
Under the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), first round draft picks are highly coveted because it's an infusion of young—but most importantly, cheap—talent since rookie contracts have a maximum in place that can't be exceeded.
Ujiri, when he was hired away from the Denver Nuggets earlier in the summer, said his first order of business as the new GM of the Raptors was to trade away Bargnani. It seems he's accomplished his first goal and gotten a first round pick in the process.