Knicks president Donnie Walsh says he’s “embarrassed” about the attention he’s drawn because of the uncertainty over his contract status.
Walsh’s three-year deal expires June 30 and team owner Jim Dolan has yet to inform Walsh if the franchise will pick up his option for next season. The club must make a decision by April 30.
“There is a date. We’re not close to it,” Walsh, 69, told the New York Times.
“It’s abnormal when a guy jumps up ahead of time and does something.”
Speculation is running rampant that Dolan may still want to replace Walsh with Isiah Thomas — despite Thomas’s checkered past, including the latest fines issued by the NBA because scout Rodney Heard held illegal workouts.
Walsh also told the Times it was his decision to hire Mark Warkentien as a consultant. Some have speculated that Dolan hired Warkentien as Walsh’s potential replacement because Warkentien shares the same agent as Carmelo Anthony and knows Anthony from his days in Denver.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from, because I hired Warkentien,” Walsh told the Times.
“I hired him because he’s a good basketball man and I can work with him. And he’s been after me for a job for two years.”
