ORLANDO, Fla. — So when will the refurbished Garden finally get its NBA All-Star Game? It won’t be 2014, but you can bet big on 2015, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Once Knicks owner James Dolan kicked off plans for his $800 million Garden transformation, one of the big events he has eyed was bringing the NBA All-Star Game back to New York.
But it has yet to become reality despite recent bids. NBA commissioner David Stern has insisted the transformation be completed before bringing the event to the Big Apple. Stern passed on the Garden for next season, choosing Houston in an announcement made last week.
While the final stage of the three-summer Garden project is expected to be finished in time for the 2014 All-Star Game, a person familiar with the NBA’s thinking said New York is not expected to be considered because the Super Bowl will be on Feb. 2 in East Rutherford, just two weeks earlier.
“It just wouldn’t make sense having two of the biggest sports events just two weeks apart,’’ one person familiar with Stern’s thinking said.
However, sources believe the 2015 game at the Garden is a virtual lock. The Knicks haven’t hosted the All-Star Game since 1999.
On Saturday, deputy commissioner Adam Silver said talks are ongoing to bring preseason games to China, specifically Shanghai, this fall. That would mean the Knicks, with global sensation Jeremy Lin, are likely headed to the Far East come October.
Lin and Shanghai Sharks owner Yao Ming are close.
Silver was in Shanghai two weeks ago.
“I attended a Shanghai Sharks game with Yao,’’ Silver said. “We also met with the municipal government and are in discussions now about bringing an NBA preseason game or multiple games back to China next fall.’’
Lin and Yao struck a friendship before Lin’s rookie year when he played Yao’s charity games in Taiwan and Beijing. The Post reported two weeks ago Lin considered playing for Yao’s team in Shanghai.
“He’s definitely a role model for me,” Lin said. “He’s always taken care of me even before anything happened, giving me advice, taking me to eat. He watches as many games as he can.’’