The New York Knicks offered restricted free agent Tim Hardaway Jr. a whopping $71 million over four years, and the Atlanta Hawks aren’t expected to match.
Atlanta will not match New York's $71M offer sheet to Tim Hardaway Jr., but official notification still hours away, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2017
It’s hardly surprising that Atlanta isn’t interested in matching this offer. In fact, it’s been reported that league executives are “baffled” New York would extend such a lucrative offer to Hardaway Jr. in the first place.
While Hardaway Jr. did evolve into a solid wing player last year in Atlanta, he’s hardly a star. Last season, he averaged 14.5 points a game and hit on 35.7 percent of his 3-point attempts.
The Knicks have made many baffling personnel moves in the past decade-plus. So it’s not all that shocking they’re about to overpay for Hardaway Jr. The Hawks are a team in need of a new identity anyway, so it’s probably better in the long run that they let him go.