The New York Knicks and recently signed head coach David Fizdale are reportedly still planning on parting ways with exiled former All-Star center Joakim Noah, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Ian Begley of ESPN.
Unless general manager Scott Perry can find a trade that includes Noah, the Knicks will use the NBA’s waive-and-stretch provision to release Noah sometime after Sept. 1, league sources said.
Noah, 33, has two years and $37.8 million left on his contract, and waiting until September to stretch it allows the Knicks to spread the balance of his remaining contract into smaller cap hits over the next three years.
The former Defensive Player of the Year was brought in by former president Phil Jackson on a four-year, $72 million deal in the summer of 2016, a transaction that looked to be a colossal failure from the start with Noah having recent injury concerns and being on the wrong side of 30 in his last season with the Chicago Bulls.
If the Knicks decide to stretch his contract, they save money to spend on potential free agents in the short term, but the franchise will consequently be paying the big man a portion of his contract for years down the road, downsizing their long-term cap space.
While the chances are slim-to-none that Noah ever again proves to be a starting caliber player, but he could get a look as a potential backup or third string center for a playoff team following having his contract stretched by the Knicks.
