ESPN: Knicks trying to get rid of Andrea Bargnani, not Amar'e Stoudemire

ESPN reports the Knicks are trying to trade Jose Calderon. They're not the first to say so. I understand the Knicks want more space, and I bet Calderon would like to play for a better team, but I hope he doesn't get dealt away for the NBA equivalent of nothing. Despite what 30 games' stats among a ruinous, tanking roster might suggest, Calderon is good and fits pretty well. And that contract really isn't that bad, or that long. New York must either get fair value in return for trading him or be confident in a suitable free agent alternative*. Bird in the hand, you know.

The stuff that's actually new here is this, again via Begley and Stein of ESPN:

But ‎sources maintain that the Knicks are not looking to move Stoudemire and, at least for now, intend to keep him for the rest of the season. That could theoretically lead to Stoudemire -- who has relished his time with the Knicks despite the club's struggles -- re-signing with them over the summer at a reduced rate.

Sources say Bargnani, meanwhile, is a candidate to be waived next month if New York can't find a deal for the former No. 1 overall pick and his $11.5 million expiring contract before the Feb. 19 deadline for deals.

Trading either of those guys, I assume, is very unlikely. Teams may actually want Stoudemire, but his deal is pretty much impossible to match in a swap. Only an elaborate interactive theater art project posing as an NBA team wants to trade for an injured, previously-seen-struggling Bargnani unless they're exchanging an even unwieldier contract.

Waiving Bargnani or Stoudemire-- whose contracts expire this summer-- would only serve to open another roster spot for auditions. Pretty sure that does nothing else for the Knicks, since the money's guaranteed. Based on what we're reading above, the Knicks are going to spend the next month getting hung up on, and then may release Bargnani from the last two months of his contract to free one of those auditioning spots. At least for sentimental (or other) reasons, they wouldn't do the same with Amar'e, and the report suggests they may actually try to keep him around on a smaller deal this summer. We'll argue on that bridge when we come to it.

So that's what's up this morning. Nothing new or surprising, just confirmation that Phil Jackson will try to trade damn near everyone on this roster before the February 19 deadline stops him, at which point he might resort to straight cuts.

*Am I crazy for feeling much better about Jose Calderon for $15 million over 2 years than Reggie Jackson (since his name has come up) for more than that over a longer period of time?