Dee: The Knicks will cut Renaldo Balkman to sign J.R. Smith.

Well, we await an actual transaction, but Tommy Dee of TKB has word that the Knicks, unable to open up a roster spot with a trade for a pick, will make a cut in order to sign J.R. Smith (which is definitely happening, by the way).

Sources close to the situation have told TKB that in order to make room for the signing of guard J.R. Smith the team will indeed release Renaldo Balkman after failing to complete trades for existing players on the roster including Balkman, Bill Walker, and Toney Douglas.

A cut of Balkman would be interesting and unexpected because 1. He is the best player on the Knicks and everybody knows that. 2. He's actually the fourth-highest paid player on the team and is guaranteed money next year. Tommy explains that Mike Bibby will be spared because he is technically a point guard and the Knicks are short on those (though, honestly, Smith is more of a point guard than Bibby at this point). Damn shame.

That said, Humpty hardly played, so this would be a move in which a rotation player is added without subtracting one, which is usually a good thing. I'll update (and save my tearful farewell to Humpty for) whenever this actually goes down.