NEW YORK — Amar’e Stoudemire spent part of his childhood in upstate New York.
Could he return to New York next summer as a free agent to play with the Knicks?
“New York’s not a bad city,” Stoudemire said Tuesday before the Suns met the Knicks at MSG. “I lived out here for several years of my childhood years growing up [in Newburgh, N.Y.] so it’s not a bad city at all. But you never know what may happen.”
The Knicks have cleared salary-cap space to target a loaded free agent class that includes Stoudemire, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others.
But the Suns took the NBA’s best record (14-3) into Tuesday’s game, while the Knicks (3-14) have the league’s third-worst record. Would Stoudemire really want to trade addresses?
“You never want to be associated with a bad team but every team that is bad is trying to get better so that’s the positive part of it. They’re not going to be horrible forever,” he said.
He added: “It’s possible. I’m pretty sure the guys that are looking to go elsewhere in the free agent standpoint want to get better. They want to win a championship. Speaking of myself, I definitely want to win a championship. That’s the ultimate goal. So that may play a factor.
“But it all depends on the personnel, on the player that comes to the city and what they’re looking for and if the team is willing to build and put the right pieces around them, then it’s possible that that team that is bad now can be great within a year, a la Boston Celtics, so it can happen.”
Stoudemire also praised Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, for whom he played in Phoenix and with Team USA at the Beijing Olympics.
“Mike is a phenomenal coach,” Stoudemire said. “I enjoyed playing with him [with the] Phoenix Suns and also USA Basketball so I think coach D’Antoni will be OK. He’s a phenomenal coach. I just think over time the Knicks will get better.”
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