When trying to negotiate a new contract with Amare Stoudemire in 2010, the Phoenix Suns insisted the power forward play a minimum number of minutes before the next year of the deal became fully guaranteed, because the team’s medical staff had serious concerns about Stoudemire’s knee, The New York Post reports.
The deal would have required Stoudemire to play at least 2,200 minutes in the third year of the contact to fully guarantee year four, and 2,200 minutes in the fourth year to guarantee year five, according to The Post.
The Post also reports, but was unable to confirm, that the Heat’s medical staff examined Stoudemire’s knee and offered an even more dire prognosis.
Stoudemire, of course, did not re-sign with the Suns, and instead was given a five-year, $99 million deal by the Knicks.
Stoudemire played 2,870 minutes, the second highest total of his career, during the 2010-11 with the Knicks, and suffered a back injury during New York’s playoff series against the Celtics. He’s averaged 33.2 minutes per game this season, the least in his career besides his rookie season and 2005-06, when he played in just three games.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson, meanwhile, says Stoudemire is currently day-to-day with a bulging disc in his back. Last week, the team said he’d be able to return to the floor in two-to-four weeks, but a source tells the paper that Stoudemire returning in time for the important April 11 game against the Milwaukee Bucks is a longshot.
“All we can do with him is just take it a day at a time and see where he is physically,’’ Woodson said. “He comes back, he tells me he’s ready to play. I’ll put him in uniform and back on the floor. ...
"I wish I could tell you it would be this weekend. I really don’t know.”
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