Will the Knicks land a big free agent this summer?
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The history of the New York Knicks' free agent signings
The Knicks have cleared enough salary cap space to sign two max contracts this offseason. Will this be the summer they finally succeed in bringing in top tier players?
By Kyle Irving
The Knicks missed on LeBron James in the Summer of 2010 but ended up with Amar'e Stoudemire [nba.com illustrations]
The
New York Knicks sent shockwaves around the NBA last week when they traded
Kristaps Porzingis to the
Dallas Mavericks.
The deal that sent the young Latvian star to Dallas helped free their books of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee's contracts, further proving their desire to sign not one, but two big names this offseason.
MORE: How does Porzingis fit with the Mavs?
This isn't the first time the Knicks have cleared cap space in an effort to bring superstars to The Mecca, though they have yet to be successful in their endeavours.
Knicks fans probably still have nightmares of the Summer of 2010. The Summers of 2015 and 2016 weren't ones to write home about either.
It has been 20 years since the Knicks last appeared in the NBA Finals in 1999. The laundry list of trades and free agency signings since that season is less than ideal for a big market NBA team.
With viewer discretion, that list can be found
at the bottom of this article.
But with that being said, let's focus on the Knicks' biggest misses in the free agency market as well as trades and signings that did not work out.
In 2001, New York signed sharpshooter Allan Houston to a six-year, $100 million deal after back-to-back All-Star seasons. Houston found personal success with the Knicks but never played in another playoff game (or All-Star Game) after inking his big contract.
In 2002, they sent Marcus Camby and the draft rights to Nene, who would later put together a solid NBA career, to the
Denver Nuggets for Antonio McDyess.
McDyess was already coming off of an injury that caused him to miss the entire season prior when the Knicks chose to trade for him. He then re-hurt himself in a preseason game and only played in 18 games for the Knicks before they moved him again.
Fast forward to 2005 when their major offseason signing was Jerome James to a five-year, $30 million deal. James' best season in the NBA before that contract was averaging 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. In his four seasons in New York, he never played more than 9.0 minutes per game, averaging 2.5 points and 1.8 rebounds.
The Knicks went four offseasons without any crippling signings or trades, leading up to...
The Summer of 2010
The Knicks went into the 2010 offseason with hopes of signing some combination of
LeBron James,
Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson.
They traded for Amar'e Stoudemire but failed to pair him with any of the aforementioned free agents.
As we all know, James, Wade and Bosh decided to team up in Miami, leading to two NBA championships. As for Johnson, he re-signed a huge deal with the
Atlanta Hawks.
The Knicks filled the voids in their roster with a three-year, $25 million deal for Raymond Felton and a three-year, $9 million deal for Timofey Mozgov.
The following offseason, they signed veteran Jason Kidd to a three-year, $9 million deal after he helped lead the Mavericks to an NBA title. Kidd played one year on that contract before retiring.
The Knicks signed J.R. Smith to a four-year, $24.7 million deal in 2014 then signed
Carmelo Anthony to a five-year, $124 million deal in an effort to build a Big 3 of their own in one of the following two offseasons.
Back-to-back offseason misses
That brings us to the 2015 offseason, where New York had their eyes set on three free agent big men to pair alongside Melo. They extended offers to DeAndre Jordan,
LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe but went 0-for-3.
What did they end up with? Robin Lopez for three years, $60 million.
One offseason later, in 2016, when they couldn't get a meeting with their top free agent target
Kevin Durant, they dispersed that money over three free agents.
They signed Courtney Lee (four-year, $48m), Lance Thomas (four-year, $25m) and Joakim Noah (four-year, $72m) while also trading Lopez, among others, for Derrick Rose.
So while the Knicks do have two max-contract slots available this offseason, only time will tell what they will end up doing with that money.
With Durant and
Kyrie Irving in their sights, it will be intriguing to see if they will be successful in signing both of them or continue their streak of offseason misses.
All Knicks' offseason transactions from 1999-2019
All transactions were found via ProSportsTransactions.
1999 offseason
Signed
John Wallace - 3 years, $6.6 million
Latrell Sprewell - 5 years, $61.9 million extension
2000 offseason
Signed
Kurt Thomas - 3 years, $13 million
Traded
John Wallace and Donnell Harvey
for Erick Strickland and Pete Mickeal
2001 offseason
Signed
Clarence Weatherspoon - 5 years, $27.5 million
Allan Houston - 6 years, $100 million
2002 offseason
Traded
Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and rights to Nene to the Denver Nuggets
for Antonio McDyess, the rights to Frank Williams and a second round pick
Signed
Frank Williams - 3 years, $2.7 million
Michael Doleac - 2 years, $3 million
2003 offseason
Traded
Latrell Sprewell
for Keith Van Horn
Signed
Dikembe Mutombo - 2 years, $8.5 million
2004 offseason
Signed
Vin Baker - 2 years, $7.35 million
Traded
Othella Harrington, Frank Williams, Dikembe Mutombo and Cezary Trybanski
for Jamal Crawford and Jerome Williams
2005 offseason
Traded
Kurt Thomas and Dijon Thompson
for Quentin Richardson and Nate Robinson
Signed
Jerome James - 5 years, $30 million
2006 offseason
Signed
Jared Jeffries - 5 years, $30 million
2007 offseason
Traded
Steve Francis, Channing Frye and a second round pick to the
Portland Trail Blazers for Zach Randolph, Fred Jones, Dan Dickau and Demetris Nichols
Sent cash to the
Los Angeles Clippers for Jared Jordan
2008 offseason
Traded
Renaldo Balkman and cash to the Denver Nuggets
for Taurean Green, Bobby Jones and a second round pick
Sent Frederic Weis to the
Houston Rockets for Patrick Ewing Jr.
2009 offseason
Traded
Quentin Richardson and cash to the
Memphis Grizzlies for Darko Milicic
Sent a second-round draft pick and cash to the
Los Angeles Lakers for Toney Douglas
Re-signed
David Lee - 1 year, $7.5 million
Nate Robinson - 1 year, $4 million
2010 offseason
Traded
Cash to the
Milwaukee Bucks for Jerome Jordan
Sent a second round pick and a $16.5 million trade exception to the
Phoenix Suns for Amar'e Stoudemire
Sent David Lee to the
Golden State Warriors for Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf and two second-round picks
Signed
David Lee - 6 years, $80 million (then traded)
Raymond Felton - 3 years, $25 million
Timofey Mozgov - 3 years, $9 million
Roger Mason Jr. - 1 year, $1.4 million
2011 offseason
Nothing
2012 offseason
Signed
J.R. Smith - 2 years, veteran minimum
James White - 1 year, minimum
Jason Kidd - 3 years, $9 million
Steve Novak - 4 years, $15 million
Pablo Prigioni - 1 year, veteran minimum
Ronnie Brewer - 1 year, veteran minimum
Traded
Tony Douglas, Jerome Jordan, Josh Harrellson and two second-round picks to the Denver Nuggets
for Marcus Camby
Sent Jared Jeffries, Dan Gadzuric, Kostas Papanikolaou, Giorgos Printezis, a second-round pick and cash to the Portland Trail Blazers
for Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas
2013 offseason
Signed
Pablo Prigioni - 3 years, $4.5 million
J.R. Smith - 4 years, $24.7 million
Metta World Peace - 2 years, $3.2 million
Kenyon Martin - 1 year, veteran minimum
Traded
Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, Quentin Richardson and two second-round picks to the
Toronto Raptors for Andrea Bargnani
2014 offseason
Traded
Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks
for Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, Samuel Dalembert and two second rounders
Sent Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Tyler and second rounder
for Quincy Acy and Travis Outlaw
Signed
Carmelo Anthony - 5 years, $124 million
Jason Smith - 1 year, $3.3 million
2015 offseason
Traded
Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Atlanta Hawks
for Jerian Grant
Sent a second round pick and cash to the
Orlando Magic for Kyle O'Quinn and a second round pick
Signed
Aaron Afflalo - 2 years, $16 million
Derrick Williams - 2 years, $10 million
Robin Lopez - 3 years, $60 million
Kevin Seraphin - 1 year, $2.8 million
2016 offseason
Traded
Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, Jose Calderon to
Chicago Bulls for Derrick Rose, Justin Holiday and a second-round pick
Signed
Marshall Plumlee - 1 year, minimum
Brandon Jennings - 1 year, $5 million
Courtney Lee - 4 years, $48 million
Joakim Noah - 4 years, $72 million
Lance Thomas - 4 years, $25 million
Ron Baker - 1 year, minimum
2017 offseason
Signed
Luke Kornet - 1 year, minimum
Tim Hardaway Jr. - 4 years, $71 million
Ramon Sessions - 1 year, $3.2 million
Traded
Second-round pick and cash to the
Sacramento Kings for general manager Scott Perry
2018 offseason
Signed
Mario Henzonja - 1 year, $1.6 million
Noah Vonleh - 1 year, $1.6 million
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