Happy July 4th – the annual holiday the Knicks get used by a prominent free agent.
Steve Nash had the honors Wednesday as Knicks sign-and-trade talks with Phoenix ultimately fell short to an unexpected Lakers’ bid tonight despite Glen Grunwald’s willingness to thrust prized combo guard Iman Shumpert into the mix.
The Lakers may have gotten back into title contention as the two-time NBA MVP is headed to La-La land after the Suns negotiated a sign-and-trade deal with them instead. The deal was first reported by a Phoenix radio host John Gambadoro tonight. Gambadoro had tweeted earlier in the day that Nash preferred a deal sending him to Los Angeles because of the same reason.
The deal, which cannot be completed until July 11, has the Lakers sending two first-round and two second-round draft picks to the Suns in exchange for Nash.
Despite heading to Los Angeles, Nash believed he could help the Knicks win a title if he were to come to New York.
Nash’s agent, Bill Duffy, told The Post tonight, “He relished the challenge. He felt he could help the Knicks win a championship. He was kind of motivated because people called it a clumsy roster. He relished that challenge.’’
Duffy said “90-percent” of his decision was based on location, being close to his kids in Phoenix.
ESPN.com had reported last night the Lakers were out of the running because the Suns would not deal with their conference rival. That, apparently, changed.
ESPN.com instead reported Kobe Bryant helped sell Nash on the move, convincing him he would be closer to his three children in Phoenix than if he went to New York.
The Lakers also sneaked past the Raptors and Mavericks. Nash reportedly will receive a three-year deal in excess of $25 million, which is what the Knicks had hammered out in a sign-and-trade, too. The Lakers can absorb Nash via the trade exception they created by dealing Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks in December.
The Knicks’ fallback plan now is signing Jason Kidd or ex-Knick Raymond Felton to the $3.09 million mid-level exception. A source close to Felton said he may need a sign-and-trade also to get more salary, with Portland.