Warriors, Knicks agree in principle on Crawford-Harrington deal

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
(Archive)

Updated: November 21, 2008, 12:36 PM ET


The Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks have agreed in principle on a deal that would swap disgruntled Warriors forward Al Harrington for Knicks guard Jamal Crawford.

ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher reported early Friday that the teams were nearing completion on a deal featuring Harrington and Crawford. ESPN.com has since confirmed that those two players, barring a late adjustment, would be the only two involved in the trade.


Although neither team has yet commented on the deal, sources said both clubs were hoping to reach the conference-call stage to secure the required league approval by the day's end on Friday.

Harrington went public with a trade demand just before the start of the season after privately urging Golden State to move him for months. New York had immediate interest, seeing the versatile and mobile Harrington as an ideal frontcourt fit in new coach Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo system.
Deal Or No Deal?
See how the proposed Jamal Crawford-Al Harrington deal looks in the ESPN.com NBA Trade Machine.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh, furthermore, might be Harrington's biggest fan in the league; he drafted the 28-year-old in 1998 and brought him back to Indiana in a deal with Atlanta in the summer of 2006. But Harrington's second stint with the Pacers lasted only a half-season before he was dealt to Golden State in January 2007, along with Stephen Jackson.

Reuniting with Harrington will come at a cost for Walsh: It will require the Knicks to part with Crawford, their leading scorer and another player they had pegged to flourish under D'Antoni. The Warriors, according to NBA front-office sources, see Crawford as a versatile guard who, although not a pure floor leader, can function well in coach Don Nelson's system while Monta Ellis recovers from ankle surgery -- and in tandem with Ellis once he returns.

Yet it's believed that Walsh has multiple motivations for re-acquiring one of his favorites. Another sizable lure is Harrington's contract, which pays him $9.2 million this season, $10 million next season and expires after the 2009-10 campaign. That meshes with New York's intent to slice payroll and get as far under the salary cap as possible for the highly anticipated free-agent summer of 2010 to join the bidding for Cleveland's LeBron James.

Crawford is scoring 19.6 points per game this season after averaging a career-best 20.6 points per game and 5.0 assists last season. Assuming Crawford declines a player option to become a free agent in July 2009, his deal would run through the 2010-11 season, paying $8.6 million this season, $9.4 million in 2009-10 and $10 million in 2010-11.

Harrington has played only five games this season, averaging 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds before missing Golden State's past six games with a back injury. Nelson told ESPN.com on the first weekend of the season that the Warriors would "try to accommodate" Harrington, but not when the Knicks were looking to part with center Eddy Curry as opposed to Crawford.