While watching the All-Star game, an alert popped up that said Amar’e Stoudemire had been bought out by the lowly New York Knicks. This move frees up money earlier than this summer and gives Amar’e a chance to sign with a contender for the rest of the season once he clears waivers on Wednesday.
Stoudemire is currently averaging 12 ppg and 6.8 rpg this season. Injuries have been the downfall of Stoudemire in his tenure in NY. During is first year he was a MVP candidate, but every year after his play has been on the decline. You can’t feel sad for Amar’e on the money side because he banked most of his 5 year $99.7 million deal, but as a player it sucks to see a player so good get defeated by injury. A healthy Amar’e and Carmelo were tabbed to lead the Knicks by to the promise land and it didn’t workout.
With Amar’e on the market which team(s) should take a chance on him?
Dallas Mavericks- After trading for Rondo and giving up Branden Wright, it has been rumored they have wanted Amar’e and have been on the market for a big man.
Los Angeles Clippers- With the injury to Blake Griffin, it has made the Clippers a prime candidate for a big man. Amar’e would fit in that system and with DeAndre Jordan erasing a lot of mistakes on the backend that would be a nice marriage.
Dark horse teams:
Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers
There are a few other teams that will be in the marker for the power forward, but this will be a race between the Mavericks and Clippers. I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s signed by Wednesday evening, if whichever team that lands him can control his minutes this will be a nice pickup, Amar’e is still a solid player that can help a quality team, he’s just not the one or two option he used to be.
