<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">North Jersey - A Steve Francis-Stephon Marbury backcourt? Don't hold your breath. Francis and all his behavioral baggage, plus the $48.7 million he's due the three seasons after this one, may not be in Orlando by the NBA trade deadline a week from today. Yet, although the Knicks and Magic have talked, league sources indicated Wednesday it's more likely he'll end up elsewhere. That's because there's a theory throughout the league that Knicks president Isiah Thomas is generating talk about such big-ticket players to divert attention from his free-falling team. Thomas didn't speak to reporters Wednesday and didn't watch the Knicks snap their 10-game losing streak from his usual spot in the center-court tunnel. But with the NBA's trade deadline a week from today and his team flirting with the league's worst record, there's no doubt he's working the phones. Francis, however, is considered more likely to end up in Denver, especially if the Nuggets can unload Kenyon Martin. The Nuggets' forward has four years and more than $54 million left on his contract, plus a fifth-year option worth $16 million. Memphis is also reportedly pursuing Francis, a three-time All-Star. The ingredients of a potential Francis deal to New York also took a hit Wednesday when Orlando backup center Kelvin Cato was thrown into the Magic's deal with the Pistons for Darko Milicic. The Magic could substitute starting center Tony Battie's salary (about $3 million less than Cato's), but get less in return in a package that would include their former star Penny Hardaway's expiring $15.75 million contract. Martin was also reportedly offered to the Knicks earlier this month in a three-way scenario that also would have brought Nuggets backup point guard Earl Watson to New York. A straight Martin and Watson-to-New York deal all but died when the Nuggets insisted on Knicks rookie Channing Frye.</div> http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives...to_ny_unlikely/
Smokescreen, I bet by the time the allstar game is over, we will have a deal worked out with the Knicks. Hopefully we can pry one of their 2 1sts from this year.
