The Knicks have been informed by Elton Brand’s representatives that they no longer are in the running for the Westchester power forward, according to an NBA source.
According to the source, the market for Brand is higher than the Knicks can offer – which is either the $1.7million mini midlevel exception or the $1.4M veteran’s minimum. The Knicks had targeted Brand to be a key big man off the bench after losing Marcus Camby in the Andrea Bargnani trade.
Chicago and Cleveland made initial inquiries into Brand. The Knicks have yet to come to terms with an outside free agent, with the signing day tomorrow, as they have been simply outbid . The latest target the Knicks lost out on was Pistons point guard Will Bynum, who agreed to terms with Detroit Monday night. They also lost out on small forwards, Francisco Garcia, Matt Barnes and Carlos Delfino.
Because of the Knicks’ financial predicament, they may have to wait a few days before players give up on getting higher offers elsewhere. The Knicks were able to sign two of their chief free agents, J.R. Smith and Pablo Prigioni. They lost Chris Copeland to Indiana on a two-year, $6 million deal.
With Brand out of the picture, the Knicks have a strong urgency to re-sign power forward Kenyon Martin, who has also attracted interest elsewhere.