In what comes as a major surprise just days after the general consensus around the NBA was that the Knicks would re-sign point guard Jeremy Lin at any cost, Yahoo's Marc Spears is reporting New York will let Lin sign with the Houston Rockets and instead complete a sign-and-trade with Trail Blazer Raymond Felton.

Jeremy Lin appears close to being a Houston Rocket with Raymond Felton to NY deal close to being done, sources tell Y!

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 15, 2012

On Friday, Lin signed a three year, 25 million dollar contract with the Houston Rockets that was backloaded in the final year of the deal to put extra financial pressure on the Knicks, who have Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler signed to long-term contracts. The first two years of the proposed Lin deal would pay him 10.2 million dollars, while the final year would pay upwards of 14.9 million, according to USA Today. If the Knicks matched the offer, they would pay major luxury tax penalties for the foreseeable future.

Even still, it was expected that the Knicks would bring Lin back at any cost. Felton played with New York for 54 games in the 2010-2011 season, averaging a career high 17.1 points and 9 assists per game before being traded to the Denver Nuggets. He struggled on the Blazers last season though, averaging 11.4 points and 6.5 assists per game.

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