Knicks Targets Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay Off Table

According to reports, it appears both swingmen agreed to deals with their current teams.

It was already well known as of yesterday the Hawks were offering Joe Johnson a maximum contract worth $119 million over six years. The Knicks were going to offer him around $80 million over the same time period, and apparently, Johnson has decided it's worth the exorbitant difference in contracts to stay in Atlanta, reportedly agreeing to the contract today. 

All in all, this is probably a good move for New York - although the Knicks were heavily targeting Johnson, they'll probably be glad not to be paying him $16 million dollars at age 34. Either way, Johnson was never going to be the Knicks No. 1 option - they wanted to bring him in alongside an Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh. Whether this hurts their ability to get those guys, we'll find out.

Gay, a member of the 2006 draft class, wasn't necessarily expected to earn max money in his first free agent period, but the Grizzlies went there according to early reports, offering Gay the maximum of $81 million over five years, which he is believed to have accepted. New York was also targeting Gay as a second fiddle, and although he's a young player with serious scoring talent, the Knicks are probably surprised, but not disappointed that the Grizzlies outbid them on this one.