Amar'e Stoudemire's Agent, Knicks Discussing Contract Buyout
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Amar'e Stoudemire's agent, Happy Walters, has had conversations with the Knicks about the team buying out his client's contract.
"I mean, I think there are a lot of options," Walters said on Frank Isola's radio show on SiriusXM on Wednesday. "I will say that the Knicks have been really great to Amar'e …and super supportive. And Jim Dolan, the owner, has been really loyal over the years to Amar'e and really great to him.
"And so I think Amar'e feels that he has a lot of loyalty to the Knicks and Jim, good days or bad days. He certainly didn't think his last year would be like it is now where the team is struggling, but I think anything is possible.
"Amar'e and I have talked about what to do and, you know, it is an ongoing discussion and I've talked to the Knicks a little bit about it, but we haven't gotten to anything substantive. And we'll kind of see how things go. Amar'e wouldn't do anything unless (Dolan) was cool with it, that's for sure."
Yahoo! Sports reported last week that the 32-year-old was considering asking the organization for a buyout.
According to ESPN's Ian Begley, the Knicks have had internal discussions about a buyout. As of last week, they hadn't reached out to Stoudemire about it.
The six-time NBA All-Star is in the final season of his contract. He's dealt with injuries all season, and has played in just 35 of the Knicks' 52 games.
"As of right now my loyalty is with New Yorkn and that's what it's going to be," Stoudemire said on Tuesday, according to the New York Daily News. "I'm not really focused on that quite right now. My focus is one game at a time with the New York Knicks. It's 'New York' across my chest still. We got a game against the Magic.
"We got to try and win that game and just go from there."
The veteran is averaging 12.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.0 block in 24.3 minutes per game.
