James Dolan Nixes Kyle Lowry Trade Over Concerns Raptors GM Had Fleeced Him Again

According to the New York Daily News‘ Frank Isola, MSG Chairman and Knicks owner James Dolan vetoed a trade that would have brought Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry to New York in exchange for Raymond Felton, Metta World Peace and New York’s first-round pick in 2018. Dolan is concerned with the perception Raptors GM Masai Ujiri would again be taking advantage of the Knicks owner.

UPDATE:
Marc Berman of the New York Post — and the foil to the NYDN’s Isola — offers an alternative take on why the Knicks decided not to go ahead with the Lowry trade. According to Berman, who many believe acts as a second sounding board for the Knicks’ public relations department, the Knicks didn’t call off the Lowry trade because of Dolan, but because the Raptors asked for Tim Hardaway Jr. instead of Metta World Peace, which was too steep a price.

Adrian Wojnarowski tweets that the Knicks’ front office is regrouping in an effort to acquire Lowry, but that Brooklyn is making a strong push for the Raptors point guard.

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Also, this:

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EARLIER:
Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski broke news of the trade yesterday, after the Raptors had unsuccessfully tried to leverage Lowry for Iman Shumpert or Tim Hardaway, Jr., before arriving at the Felton, MWP, first round pick swap. Except, Dolan is vulnerable to the perception Raptors GM Ujiri hoodwinked him on earlier deals for Carmelo Anthony — and this past summer’s acquisition of Andrea Bargnani:

Knicks owner Jim Dolan is sensitive to the public perception that Toronto general manger Masai Ujiri bamboozled New York in the Carmelo Anthony trade, and the chance of getting panned for giving up too much in a deal for Lowry has become a hurdle in these talks, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Ujiri was the GM of the Denver Nuggets when he negotiated a deal that included Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Felton and Timofey Mozgov for a package that included Anthony, Chauncey Billups and a first-round draft pick.

Dolan’s apparent sensitivity over previous deals involving Ujiri was the reason Isola gave for the new deal — involving Felton, MWP and the first rounder in 2018 — being blocked today:

According to several reports, the Knicks were prepared to trade Raymond Felton and Metta World Peace plus Iman Shumpert or Tim Hardaway Jr. or a 2018 first-round pick. The Raptors preferred the first-round pick, but Dolan — who negotiated the Carmelo Anthony trade with Raptors GM Masai Ujiri when Ujiri was with the Denver Nuggets — got cold feet about trading a future asset. That could open the door for the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Lowry instead.

“Dolan didn’t want to get fleeced again by Masai,” was how one Knicks source put it. “They had a deal ready.”

[…]

“There are two problems,” the source said. “Dolan didn’t like that someone from his group leaked it to the media, and the other problem is the Knicks seem to have too many (people) involved with making decisions.”

Since Metta World Peace was acquired this summer, the Knicks wouldn’t have been able to finalize the trade until this Sunday, December 15, when the deadline would end to move previously acquired deals like the one for Metta World Peace.

Isola also reports the Raptors — who are in a hurry to unload Lowry after trading Rudy Gay to Sacramento earlier this month — may turn towards the Knicks’ intra-city rival Nets in an attempt to trade him to Brooklyn. Yahoo also reported the Raptors were scouting Bojan Bogdanovic, a 24-year-old shooting guard whose rights are owned by the Nets. So he could be involved in a possible deal sending Lowry to Brooklyn.

[NYDN; Yahoo]

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