Zagoria: Phil Jackson told Raymond Felton he'll be traded

Soon I will attempt to round up all the Knicks coaching search rumors. They are complex and diffuse. This rumor is focal and simple, so let's do it first:

Knicks President Phil Jackson told point guard Raymond Felton during exit meetings last month that he will be traded during the offseason, a league source told SNY.tv.

“Raymond has been told he will be moved this offseason,” the source said.

1. Yeah.

2. Makes sense.

3. Cool.

4. You can't just move people however you please, so what's the play? Back at the trade deadline, it sounded like it would have taken the inclusion of an additional, valuable player like Iman Shumpert to get another team to accept the two, $4 million-ish years remaining on Felton's contract. It's possible that a team with an established starter might desire Felton as a backup, and possible then that the Knicks would send him away in exchange for nothing-- little contracts, exceptions, second-rounders, protected second-rounders, fifth-rounders, whatever. More likely, the Knicks would have to sweeten the proverbial pog. Sweeten the pog? Yeah. At that point, one wonders how much it would take to get rid of Felton and at what price it's no longer worth it to rush him out.

But anyway, I think we all assumed the Knicks would look to trade Felton. Now we know he knows it's coming. Sorry, Ray. I still love you.