Six teams gunning for Knicks Jeremy Lin in free agency

HOOPSWORLD’s Steve Kyler is reporting that “sources close to the situation” say there are as many as six teams willing to make a serious run at Jeremy Lin.

The Knicks have the right to match any offer for the restricted free agent, but they have limited resources with which to do that. General manager Glen Grunwald won’t have any cap space to use, but he does have the team’s full mid-level exception (there’s a smaller MLE for teams who are over the luxury tax threshold).

Other teams can’t offer Lin more than the mid-level exception because he hasn’t accrued three years in the league yet (it’s called the Gilbert Arenas provision). However, according to Kyler and Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ, another team can backload a mid-level offer, which would put the Knicks in a serious predicament.

The first two years of the deal could theoretically be for $5 million for the first year and $5.225 million for the second before skyrocketing in price. As Coon explained, a team could offer as much as $12.6 million in the third year and $13.15 million in the fourth year for a four-year total of $36 million and a yearly average of $9 million (which means the team in question would need $9 million in cap space).

Lin isn’t likely to get that much, but a team could still do a deal that averages $6 million or $7 million, as Kyler pointed out.  If the Knicks decided to match that offer, they’ll be forced to pay a severe luxury tax in the third and fourth years of the deal. So what will the Knicks do?

Well we won’t find out until…

via Six teams gunning for Knicks Jeremy Lin, report says | NJ.com.