The Spurs are done as a top team. They cannot beat DAL, LA, OKC, MEM and probably PORT . They are currently @ 72 M, but with Duncan coming off the books and Jefferson sure to be renounced at some point, Ginobili has one more year and only Parker is signed long term. After they sell their seats for the year, they move Ginobili to a contender that needs an ice water player in the playoffs for a pick plus an expiring, move Parker in a 3 way with NO and NY with Billups expiring going to SA with the knicks 2016 choice , CP3 to the knicks with NO’s #1 to SA.

SA now has a < 10m payroll for 2012 and can tank for a year or 2 to get a top choice or 2 in the draft (they've done it before) and then have money to spend on FA's .

Paul can then not opt out and when his contract expires after 2012 with the knicks and then with his Bird rights intact , get the max without the Knicks having to give away Shumpert, et, al.

Duncan can either retire or chase another ring or 2 going forward playing 20 mins/game for the MLE for either the Heat or the Knicks :-)

And everybody is happy. NO cannot possibly do better than a 29 yr old Parker signed for 4 years at a reasonable 12.5M/yr, the Knicks get their guy without giving away their few assets not named Melo and Stat, CP3 gets his money and the Knicks and SA gets to break it down quickly and can build another long term run by tanking a year or 2.

Then if Orlando doesn't think they can do better than Amar'e for Howard….. who am I to argue…..

Spree8nyk8: I doubt anything in this situation is going to happen fast, this unfortunately is gonna be a drawn out saga like last year :(

Thank goodness, I sure hope so, let’s see the pieces play before we make a judgment…especially Shump!

JK47:
Let’s say this trade happens, and that we move pretty much every asset we have for Chris Paul. Do we still get to use the MLE? Perhaps Caron Butler would come for the MLE to give us some wing depth.Who might come here for the veteran’s minimum?

I doubt anything in this situation is going to happen fast, this unfortunately is gonna be a drawn out saga like last year :(

Ben R:
Trading Fields, Douglas, Shumpert, Jordan and Billups is a pretty weak package for a player like Paul. That is signifigantly worse than what we traded for a less talented Melo.

I think if we want Paul it will take trading Amare. Otherwise someone else in an attractive destination like LA or Dallas will put together a better offer and get Paul. Paul wants to come to NY but ultimately I think he wants to be on a winner and the Clippers or the Thunder or any team with Howard offer a better chance of winning than a totally stripped Knicks team.

That’s what people initially said about our package for Carmelo, (although this package seems truly worse than the last). Also, now that the CBA no longer calls for salaries to match in trades, the Knicks could send Billups to another playoff team looking for point guard and leadership upgrade for an extra asset in a 3 team trade. As for trading Amar’e, he is the heart and soul of this team. Yes, his injury history is a concern, but so is Paul’s.

As Kanye would say, that sh*t cray (read: crazy).

First, there is absolutely no way we are trading Amare for anyone outside of Dwight Howard, and the Knicks brass would have to think long and hard about even that given Amar’e's (that was fun) role in our recent resurgence. There is absolutely no need to (nor way we will) trade Amare for Paul and even if we did, how much better would we be? In the immediate aftermath of such a trade, we would be far, far worse, with absolutely zero talent at the 4 or 5. In the long run, it’s a toss up, probably favoring acquiring cp3 but not definitely.

Second, this situation has few similarities with Melo’s, a point which has been covered far and wide, including extensively here, and can be summarized in a sentence: Unlike Melo, there is no multi-million dollar incentive for paul to get himself traded to the knicks rather than simply sign as a FA and, provided Paul wants to come to NY as much as it seems, we have all of the leverage and are under no obligation to offer new orleans full market value, or even anything close. Take our scraps (which would should match or exceed any offers the hornets get from teams trading for paul without the guarnatee he will sign an extension) or watch him leave for nothing a few months later.

Third, @144, the Clippers offer CP3 a better chance at winning then a team with Amare, Melo, and Cp3 would? Really? Are we talking about the same Clippers? Like the ones Donald Sterling, the worst owner in sports, owns? The racist who demeans his own players and who has 1 winning season in the last 19? The same Clippers who have a grand total of one playoff series win in their entire existence (since 1984) and who had only 32 wins last year? We’re talking about the same Clippers who play in the West, where you need 46-50 wins just to get into the playoffs and 53-56 to get a single home playoff series, right?

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/216918/Paul_Wont_Sign_Extension_Requests_Trade_To_Knicks

We’d also probably take a lousy contract back from them. Not like we’d care about spending anymore at that point. But everything feels like it’s coming together…..it’s almost as if three players planned it all this way or something.

I think if we want Paul it will take trading Amare. Otherwise someone else in an attractive destination like LA or Dallas will put together a better offer and get Paul. Paul wants to come to NY but ultimately I think he wants to be on a winner and the Clippers or the Thunder or any team with Howard offer a better chance of winning than a totally stripped Knicks team.