NEW YORK _ When 6 p.m. arrives on June 30, officially opening the floodgates on free agency, the Knicks remain hopeful that the huge pile of salary-cap dollars they can wave will entice the top players to consider becoming part of their rebuilding plan.
And that's no small feat, convincing a star with his choice of suitors to head into the pressure cooker that is Madison Square Garden and join a team that hasn't won a championship since before he was born. Actually, before his parents were born.
After the Knicks shambled through a 17-65 season and traded their best player, Kristaps Porzingis, with this free-agent market as the prize at the end of it, reality has set in _ on both sides.
