Knicks president Donnie Walsh said last night he doesn’t want to break up the team for a single player while mentioning center as the club’s greatest need.
It appeared a definite reference to Carmelo Anthony, whose Nuggets are trying to get a boatload of assets for him by the February trade deadline but whose talks with the Knicks appear at a standstill. Walsh may have been playing hard-to-get.
Walsh appears to sit in the driver’s seat. If Anthony is not traded or traded as a rental, the Knicks will have $15 million in cap space to nab him this summer. Multiple sources say Anthony and his new wife, LaLa Vazquez, are desperate to play in New York.
“If we can make the team better, I’ll try to do that,” Walsh said. “If you can’t make the team better, why would you do the deal. I don’t want to do a deal for the sake of doing a deal. I don’t want to give up the whole team for a player.
“The question is: ‘Is there anything out there that can make you a better team by what you perceive you need?’ ” Walsh added. “I haven’t seen anything I can trade for that would make us a better team right now.”
Walsh instead pointed out their greatest need — a beast of a center.
Marc Gasol is a restricted free agent this summer and on the radar.
“We can use another big guy, that’s for sure,” Walsh said. “I usually have five 4’s and 5’s and we have three on this team. I haven’t told any of you all year we have every position covered.”
In assessing his big men, Walsh said he no longer includes Anthony Randolph or Eddy Curry because “they don’t play.”
If they sign Anthony as a free agent, it could come at the cost of restricted free agent Wilson Chandler, who may not be able to be retained, pending the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Knicks have $15 million of cap room in 2011. Under the old CBA, Chandler, if they don’t renounce his rights, would have a $6.4 million cap hold. However, they can open up another $3 million if they trade Randolph for a first-round pick and another $4 million if Ronny Turiaf opts out of the final year of his contract.
Walsh said the uncertainty of the CBA could lead him to do a deadline deal.
Asked about the worry of waiting for summer, Walsh said: “Comfortable? I’m comfortable we’ll be better off than a lot of other guys. We’re below the cap now and proportionally if the cap goes down, the value of the players goes down, payrolls go down. We’ll still be in a good position that way. But it may be a factor.”
The Knicks’ leverage prompted an anonymous general manager to say Sunday in a Sporting News item that Anthony eventually winding up a Knick is “inevitable.”
Walsh said he wouldn’t comment because the GM didn’t put his name to it.
“What general manager was quoted?” Walsh asked. “Because you’re going to quote me on my answer. So which general manager was quoted? When they put their name behind it, then I’ll answer it.”
One GM told The Post the Nuggets have gone in the bunker since Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov‘s withdrawal last week.
“They have been very quiet,” according to the GM.
*
A source said Chandler, who recently fired his agent, Chris Luchey, plans to meet with Amar’e Stoudemire‘s agent, Happy Walters, next week. Walters also represents Knicks reserve Shawne Williams.
*
Steve Kaufmann, Walsh’s agent, flew in from Los Angeles to attend the game but swore he was not planning to meet with James Dolan about Walsh’s contract situation.
The final optional year of Walsh’s contract must be exercised by April 30.