Knicks Plans May Go Up in Cap Space Smoke

Cap could drop by $8 million before 2010-2011 season

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 3:46 PM EST, Wed, Jul 8, 2009

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The last couple of years for Knicks fans has been like the episode of "The Simpsons" when Bart and Lisa go to a corrupt Camp Krusty staffed by miscreants. Bart steels himself night after night by getting into the fetal position and trying to convince himself that Krusty the Clown would come to save the day. "Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming," is the mantra he repeats over and over again while shivering.

For Knicks fans it has been "LeBron James(or Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh or some combination) is coming" while they watch inferior players clogging up the court. The promise of 2010 has sustained them through the wilderness, because the promise of future glories lay just over the horizon.

The horizon may have just moved further away. The NBA sent a memo to teams Tuesday night informing them that an anticipated drop in basketball related income that could push the salary cap for the 2010-2011 season as low as $50.4 million. That's compared to a $58.7 million cap for the past season, and what the Knicks anticipated being around $63 million when they began their spending spree.

That would likely end any notion of adding two superstars at maximum contracts, even if the Knicks could unload Eddy Curry, and may mean that they have to wave goodbye to David Lee even if he comes up empty on the open market. It could also mean the extensions that the Cavs, Heat and Raptors will offer their stars become more attractive since their cap status would be less affected thanks to the rules governing re-signing your own players.

At least they're renovating the Garden, so you'll be comfortable while watching future iterations of bad Knicks teams going nowhere in a hurry. We'll take bright sides where we can get them.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.