Amar’e Stoudemire‘s 5-year, $100 million contract will be off the books at the end of the 2014-15 season — though he has an early termination option he’s unlikely to use. After receiving close to $23 million next season, the injury-ravaged forward might not re-sign in the NBA, but join his Israeli team (he’s part-owner) to finish out his career overseas, reports the New York Post.
During the summer of 2010, when everybody was clamoring to offer LeBron James the world if he would just sign on the dotted line, the Knicks had a backup plan in place, knowing ‘Bron was unlikely to call New York home. They offered Stoudemire, late of the Suns, $100 million to be the future of the franchise with his old coach Mike D’Antoni. After half a season of borderline MVP-level play, Stoudemire’s knees buckled under the heavy playing time D’Antoni needed from him.
Since then, it’s been a string of injuries, and fire extinguisher incidents, while many fans still marvel at the STAT they once knew. But Amar’e has spent the last month of the 2013-14 season playing close to his all-star past, and if he remains healthy a new contract — though no where near the nine figure deal he signed four years — could be in order.
After discovering Jewish roots on his mother’s side, Stoudemire has made a few trips to Israel, even going so far as to purchase a 60 percent stake — he is part of a four-man ownership group including super-agent Arn Tellem — in Hapoel Jerusalem last summer. Since the purchase they’ve helped turned the franchise into a contender in the Israeli league at 20-7 this year. He might even sign in Israel once his contract is up. Via Marc Berman at the New York Post:
“We’ll see,” Stoudemire told The Post. “You can’t rule anything out. The future is unknown and so if I have an opportunity to [play in Israel] and am still in great health, it would be great. I have one more year left on my deal and we’ll go from there.”
[…]
Israeli-American Ori Allon, who heads the Hapoel ownership group, said he has had discussions with Stoudemire about playing for Hapoel Jerusalem. Allon has a goal of making Hapoel into the same recognizable brand as Maccabi Tel Aviv and believes Stoudemire’s addition — as owner or player — has put the team on that path.
“We’ve discussed it in the past,” Allon said. “It would be tremendous and unbelievable but it’s still early. I think it’s a real possibility, but he played very well this season so it’s up to him.”
Stoudemire is set to make more than $22 million next season, and it’ll be hard for the Knicks’ new head of basketball operations, Phil Jackson, to deal STAT with the current CBA rules in place. Plus, since Jackson will likely implement his famed Triangle Offense over the offseason, Stoudemire’s low-post game fits nicely with the system.
Whether Stoudemire actually jumps to the Israeli league in 2015 is still up in the air, but for now he said he’s, “always studying, never stop in my quest to search for the truth, especially with Passover coming.” Sounds like STAT’s getting ready for a transition to Israel that’s more permanent than many would expect.
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