The Knicks have had trouble attracting star-free agents over the past decade, and reportedly failed to meet LeBron James in 2010.
James had the Knicks as his first choice before meeting them, Bill Ringer Bill Simmons recently said on The Bill Simmons podcast.
“From everyone I’ve talked to since then, it’s clear that the Knicks were the first choice,” explained Simmons. “Basically it was the Knicks who lost, and they just couldn’t help it in their own way. The stories are legendary.”
According to Simmons, before choosing to sign with the Miami Heat and form a big three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, James would not have even given the Knicks a second fight after a first fight that Simmons called a “disaster”.
“Dolan was Dolan,” said Simmons of Knicks owner James Dolan. “They hadn’t prepared anything. It just couldn’t get any worse. It was a disaster. I think at that point, combined with the decade the Knicks had just done, I think those guys were just like ‘f –k.”
After losing James before 2010-11, the Knicks signed Amar’e Stoudemire with a five-year contract worth nearly $ 100 million.
New York was therefore swapped with Carmelo Anthony in February 2011 and added Tyson Chandler before the 2011-12 season.
But they only had one really successful season with Stoudemire, Anthony and Chandler as the core when the team reached the second round of the playoffs during the 2012-13 season. Since then they have not won a series of playoffs.
In the meantime, they kept swinging and losing big free agents, including the last offseason, when they freed up a ton of hat space just to watch Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving sign with the Brooklyn Nets.