The Joakim Noah saga may be ending this week and the New York Knicks will be celebrating the Chinese New Year on Sunday.
The Joakim Noah saga has been one of the main storylines for the New York Knicks this season. Noah will not be returning to the team, but he definitely wants to play again this season. That leaves the front office in between a rock and a hard place.
According to Frank Isola of the NY Daily News, there are a few teams in playoff contention that are interested in acquiring the former Defensive Player of the Year, should he reach a buyout with the Knicks. The caveat is that he will need to be waived by March 1st if he wanted to get picked up by a team headed to the postseason.
Isola is reporting that the Warriors, Timberwolves, and Thunder all could be interested in signing the banished big man. Noah is super competitive so there’s almost no doubt that he’s going to want to get out of New York and onto a contender.
Per ESPN’s Ian Begley, Al Horford still thinks that Noah can contribute to a playoff-bound team. The two were college teammates at Florida and they won back-to-back National Championships together. Horford would go on to say:
“He’s just about the right things. He’s the kind of guy you want around. I feel like he can help any team.”
Chinese New Year
The Knicks are celebrating the Chinese New Year with the rest of the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver has made growing the game globally a priority. They’ve played preseason games in China before and Silver has even toyed with the idea of putting a G-League team in Mexico City. This type of global outreach is good for the game and will only be good for it.
The only problem with the Knicks celebration is that they have the wrong guy leading the parade on Sunday. According to ESPN’s Ian Begley, Latrell Sprewell will be leading the parade. Nothing against Sprewell, but Stephon Marbury has played in the Chinese Basketball Association since 2010 and he’s somewhat of a legend over there. He even has a statue and museum in Beijing.
He would be the perfect guy to connect the Knicks with the Chinese fans.
Happy Chinese New Year!
新年快乐#YearOfTheDog #NBACNY
(@adidas) pic.twitter.com/J2udQQd0k1— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 24, 2018
