What if Patrick Ewing left the Knicks?
What if: Suns vs. Knicks in the 1993 NBA Finals
The New York Knicks drafted Patrick Ewing tops overall in the 1985 NBA draft and soon inked the NCAA Player of the Year a 10-year, $31 million deal.
Ten years is a long time in any market and Ewing’s agent David Falk hedged Patrick’s bet, inserting a clause into Ewing’s contract making him a restricted free agent after his sixth year (1990-91) if Ewing wasn’t one of the four-highest paid players in the league.
Year Six ended and the Knicks and Falk could not agree on the NBA’s four-highest players. Apparently Larry Bird was secretly the NBA’s most-compensated player in 1991-92, but the Knicks aren’t hearing this.
The Knicks say Ewing is the NBA’s fourth-highest paid player, Falk says Ewing is the fifth, because Larry. Falk wants to make Patrick Ewing a restricted free agent, an arbitrator eventually hears Ewing’s case against the Knicks.