Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Jeremy Lin will most likely be wearing a Houston Rockets uniform next season. The New York Knicks are very unlikely to match the offer sheet Houston and Lin agreed upon and are prepared to let Linsanity walk.

The Knicks matching Lin’s offer sheet seemed as certain as anything before Saturday night. Then the Knicks pulled off a sign-and-trade with the Portland Trailblazers for point guard Raymond Felton.

The Knicks would now have two point guards on their roster in Felton and Jason Kidd and paying a third in Lin the kind of money they’d have to just doesn’t make sense, even for the Knicks.

Lin’s 3-year offer sheet with Houston has him making $5 million in year one, $5.225 million in the second year and a whopping $14.8 million in the final year. It’s that third year that reportedly is keeping New York away from Lin as they’d likely incur around $30 million in luxury tax penalties that season with Lin on the books.

Lin at 23 years old gave the NBA world one of the best stories last season. He came out of nowhere playing on the biggest stage in the league and put up All-Star caliber numbers. Linsanity didn’t last long, just a few weeks really, but it was enough to get him paid this summer.

The money Lin will make in the third year of this contract is too much. The sample size for his production is small and there are doubters out there who don’t think he’ll reach the All-Star level of play he demonstrated this past season.

Lin brings so much more to the table though with ticket sales and jersey sales that a team is likely to make up for overpaying him some with the profits they’ll earn elsewhere. That is unless your payroll is violently beyond the luxury tax threshold like New York’s would be.

The Knicks are playing it kind of safe for once. Lin can be good in this league but needs a lot of help to do so. In Mike D’Antoni’s system, a point guard will always put up numbers and that’s what Lin did. That isn’t the case as much playing for Mike Woodson.

Lin has huge turnover problems too. He isn’t even really a true point guard and it’s not like he’s an elite athlete either. Lin will have to continue to prove people wrong to make in this league. Houston will be a good fit for his game as they feature their points in the pick-and-roll similar to how D’Antoni does.

Parting ways with Linsanity has to be a tremendously tough decision for the Knicks front office. Beyond basketball it won’t be easy for them to throw away all of the potential Lin could bring the organization.

The Rockets know about that potential and they plan to capitalize on it. They’re still “all-in” for Dwight Howard but a Plan B of Lin on the team Yao Ming used to play for isn’t too bad.

New York will complete this offseason making the most noise by not making moves than by making them. They lost out on Steve Nash, let Jeremy Lin walk and there’s a new team in town ready to steal their thunder.

The Knicks have a long road ahead of them to be considered a championship-caliber team. They’ll have to be patient as they try and find the pieces that fit but that’s a hard thing to do in a city like New York.

The Knicks were believed all along to be planning to match the offer sheet Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets for three years, $25 million but now trading for Felton makes it seem like the Knicks will pass on Lin.

The Knicks would incur some pretty steep luxury tax penalties if they were to match Houston’s offer for Lin but many believe the value of Lin in New York and his effect on ticket/jersey sales would be able to make up for it.

Lin played in 35 games for the Knicks this season and averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists per game. Felton played for the Knicks in the 2010-11 season and averaged 17.1 points and 9.0 assists per game.

The deal between New York and Portland will also involve the Knicks sending Jared Jeffries and Dan Gadzuric to the Blazers for Kurt Thomas along with Felton. Felton will be set to make around $10 million over the next three years with New York.

The Knicks could still potentially match Houston’s offer for Lin but after also trading for Jason Kidd this offseason, acquiring a third point guard in Lin doesn’t seem to make much sense.

The Rockets will be happy to get Lin although their main priority is still Dwight Howard. Lin thrived in the pick-and-roll under Mike D’Antoni and Houston is a system that loves their point guards in the pick-and-roll with Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic doing so well in it last year.

The latest rumors on Howard’s potential movement now involve a 3-team trade between Orlando, Cleveland and the Lakers that would send Howard to L.A. and Andrew Bynum to Cleveland.

Although now that deal looks to not be happening either, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports.

The Magic would make out of the deal with a package of picks and prospects, according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. This potential deal is very far from being done but does seem the most likely trade Howard would accept.

It is unlikely that any team would be able to offer a greater package of picks and prospects than Houston though.

Howard trade rumors are different every few days but many still believe the Lakers have the best chance of getting him like they’ve done so many times before with the NBA’s best centers.

The Raptors have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with restricted free agent Fields for a 3-year, $20 million deal.

This thwarts any plans the New York Knicks had of pulling off a sign-and-trade with Fields to Phoenix for Nash. The Knicks could still match Toronto’s offer for Fields but the Suns would be much less interested in trading Nash for Fields at that price.

The Raptors, who have offered Nash a 3-year, $36 million deal, are now essentially putting up $56 million to bring Nash in if you include what they’ll pay Fields.

Nash may 38 years old but he had an excellent season last year and will immediately make the Raptors a playoff team in the Eastern Conference. The city will love Nash and the Raptors will become one of the most exciting teams in the conference.

This is what the train of thought is for the Raptors. They know they aren’t winning a title any time soon so why not go all in on Nash and put their team on the map?

The Knicks will now almost definitely re-sign Jeremy Lin or match any offer sheet he signs with someone else. The Knicks were also rumored to possibly consider Raymond Felton is they could not sign Nash.

J.R. Smith is said to be leaning towards re-signing with New York as well.