Updated: Feb. 22, 2006, 2:10 PM ET Sources: Francis dealt to Knicks for Penny, Ariza By Chris Sheridan ESPN Insider Steve Francis is headed to New York under a deal agreed to Wednesday by the Knicks and the Orlando Magic, ESPN.com has learned. The teams agreed to a trade of Francis for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza, two league sources with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.com. The trade was expected to be announced later Wednesday afternoon after being called in to the league office. In New York, Francis will be paired with Stephon Marbury as the highest-paid backcourt duo in the NBA. The Knicks were still talking with several other clubs as team president Isiah Thomas worked at remaking a roster that has stumbled to the league's second-worst record, 15-37. For the Magic, the trade will provide salary cap relief to a franchise that can now go further beneath the cap than any of the league's 30 teams in the summer of 2007 when a bumper crop of free agents will be on the market, giving Orlando several options in figuring out how to rebuild around 20-year- old power forward Dwight Howard. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2339941 ___________________________________________________________________________________ Interesting backcourt there. Can they co-exist? We shall see.
Article with link.... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2339941 ------------------- Sources: Francis dealt to Knicks for Penny, Ariza By Chris Sheridan ESPN Insider Steve Francis is headed to New York under a deal agreed to Wednesday by the Knicks and the Orlando Magic, ESPN.com has learned. The teams agreed to a trade of Francis for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza, two league sources with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.com. The trade was expected to be announced later Wednesday afternoon after being called in to the league office. In New York, Francis will be paired with Stephon Marbury as the highest-paid backcourt duo in the NBA. The Knicks were still talking with several other clubs as team president Isiah Thomas worked at remaking a roster that has stumbled to the league's second-worst record, 15-37. For the Magic, the trade will provide salary cap relief to a franchise that can now go further beneath the cap than any of the league's 30 teams in the summer of 2007 when a bumper crop of free agents will be on the market, giving Orlando several options in figuring out how to rebuild around 20-year-old power forward Dwight Howard.
So Basically Orlando gave up T-mac and Howard for Darko,Penny,Ariza (who),D. Christie??? They just need to sell that team as soon as possible.
now penny hardaway can end his career where it started. i dont think the knicks gave up any useful players to get francis, but now they have that big contract. oh well the knicks willl be really interesting to watch now.
I'm jealous. Since when is NY and Orlando allowed to get involved in a stupid trade and we don't get a piece. Ariza should be coming here for Anderson. Then it's pretty much perfect.
lol, at least Isiah was totally raped talent wise. It's not his money so he doesn't care about the salary cap. The guy has absolutely idea of team chemistry. I suspect Stevie and Stephon will be exchanging punches after 3 games.
guess that means crawford will be gone next. Is there still issues between starbury and francis? Can starbury say "i'm the real all-star" anymore since both of them have slipped? Is there enough room in MSG to contain their egos?
Cost the Knicks nothing but another cap-killing, dollar-sucking contract. As far as talent goes, huge upgrade for the Knicks. The Magic didn't have to take on Jamal Crawford's contract or Mo Taylor's, but they still got their clock cleaned. How bad does the McGrady deal look now? Wow. They're starting fresh so they dumped Steve for nothing. I think it's funny though that so many people had the Knicks making tons of deals ... but all of them had Hardaway in it. No one wants anyone on the Knicks except expiring contracts or Channing Frye. Funny. As far as the Rockets are concerned... this is why you need to be armed with expiring contracts on deadline day, CD. When you dump Glen Rice AND draft picks for nothing and Moochie for a guy that JVG doesn't look likely to play, you lose out when underachieving teams decide to start over in February.
Man, Steve is worth that little? Cap space and a project? I bet Crawford could be had for cheap now though - cap relief.
I think Orlando could have added atleast a couple of draft picks or atleast a first rounder from the Knicks.
Marbury, Francis, Crawford, and Q.Richardson. I feel bad for anyone else on the Knicks that might want to touch the ball.
I don't think he is worth that little but it provides the Magic with cap space (Hardaway's contract expires after the season) to help in the rebuilding efforts and it helps them put the emphasis solely on their building block, Howard, who is a nice block to build on I think.
Yeah, I never got why Spoon and Baker weren't kept for trade purposes. I always thought of them as chips that the Rox would eventually cash-in, not just leave on the table.
This is gonna be great to watch. I wonder how the backcourt shapes out. Man, Isaiah really likes picking up perimeter players.
