Los Angeles Lakers The Lakers have talked with representatives of Boston Celtics small forward James Posey and veteran San Antonio Spurs sharpshooter Brent Barry to gauge the free agents' interest. Posey, a key reserve for the Celtics, is expected to draw the full mid-level exception of five years and about $30 million, though the Celtics have said they consider signing him an off-season priority. Posey, though, is studying his options, primarily on championship contenders that include the Lakers, said his agent, Mark Bartelstein. "I would say so," Bartelstein said. "When you get a taste of a championship, you want to keep winning them. The Lakers are a great team." Posey, 31, averaged 6.7 points and 3.6 rebounds a game in the playoffs for the Celtics, including an 18-point outburst in the pivotal Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Posey was also on the Miami Heat team that won the championship in 2006. Barry, 36, spent the last four seasons with the Spurs. He averaged 7.1 points last season, making a commendable 42.9% of his three-point attempts. He is a career 40.7% shooter from three-point range. Salary caps and roster limits don’t matter when it comes to the Knicks. In the back pages of the city’s tabloids, you can always find some player apparently willing to take less money to come here – never mind that roughly 90 percent of those who have suited up for the franchise in the past decade arrived with bloated contracts. Hope always springs eternal in the Big Apple, even if you need a block-lettered headline to find it. This is why LeBron James found himself facing a brigade of cameras and microphones Monday afternoon at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. James was in town with Team USA on a promotional tour, but the media had come largely to quiz him about his love of all things New York. In James’ case, there’s a large degree of legitimacy to the fawning. From his choice of headwear at Cleveland Indians games (Yankees cap) to his relationship with East Coast rap moguls (Jay-Z), he has never attempted to quash speculation that his career path could lead him to New York, if not to the Knicks’ doorstep then certainly that of the Brooklyn-bound Nets.
The Los Angeles Lakers continue to wait for Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf, but they have fall-back plans in case their restricted free agents don't re-sign with them.
NEW YORK – When it comes to the local basketball populace here, the NBA is divided into, for those of us who overlooked the memo, three distinct classes of players: Knicks, Former Knicks and Future Knicks. It has become a rite among the nation’s largest press corps that any visiting player automatically falls into the last category if: a) he has three or fewer years remaining on his contract; or b) he has ever said anything remotely complimentary about anything remotely connected to the Knicks or New York.