Chris Paul to Knicks: Implausible, but Not Impossible for Trade Rumors To Happen

We knew that we had to cross this bridge one day, so why not get it out of the way and put it to rest until something actually does occur?

With ESPN insider Chris Broussard reporting that Chris Paul's No. 1 destination upon his free agency is the New York Knicks to play alongside All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, we must take the time to find out if this deal actually works and if the Knicks truly do come out as a better team because of it.

Currently, the Knicks only have 10 players signed, with a number of bench players set to test free agency. Aside from Roger Mason and Shawne Williams, the Knicks don't have too much to worry about as players like Derrick Brown, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Jarred Jeffries will most likely be allowed to walk. If the Knicks do end up signing Mason and Williams, then they'll have to use up $5 million at most between the two players in order to bring Paul to New York.

The next year will be just as interesting for the Knicks as they'll only have four players under contract, with one of those players being Toney Douglas, who has a team option worth $2 million. Besides Douglas, the departed Renaldo Balkman will be robbing the team for $1.7 million, with Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony then being the only two players signed.

Before we get to the Knicks dilemma of signing Paul, let's first take a look at how the Miami Heat were able to sign Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade while still having the funds to sign the likes of Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem.

James and Bosh are the highest paid players on the team, with both superstars making a little over $16 million per year. Wade is a close second with $15.5 million, as we then see that around $47.5 million is tied up just between these three players. Mike Miller makes the most out of the role players with $5.4 million, while the team is forever grateful to Haslem for taking a significant pay cut and taking in around $4 million per year.

All of that adds up to $65 million, which is about $5 million more than the Knicks' salary last season. With only four players set to receive money from the Knicks next season, the team only has a salary of $41 million, with nearly $40 million tied up just between Stoudemire and Anthony. That raises a huge concern on how the team can secure Paul at a high enough price to keep him satisfied.

With Stoudemire and Anthony both having near-max deals worth nearly $20 million apiece, signing Paul means that he'll have to receive near $20 million as not to avoid too large a rift between the current two Knicks and the aspiring Knick. Wade receiving $1 million less per season than his teammates is one thing, but Paul having to potentially receive at least $5 million less per year than his teammates may not fly over that well.

Let's try not to forget that the Knicks will also have to bring in role players as well since they can't send out a team that has four players on it. Spend another $15 million to $20 million on the players that fill out the roster, and you have a salary that's nearing upwards of $80 million if Paul actually does decide to take the deal worth $15 million per year.

Also, don't forget that by the 2014-15 season, Anthony and Stoudemire will be pulling in nearly $47 million just by themselves. Add Paul and his $15 million, and you have $62 million tied up between three players.

As much as the Knicks fan base and Paul would love to see this happen, it's only going to happen if he takes significantly less than what he's set to be offered by the New Orleans Hornets and the myriad of other teams that will offer him a max deal as well. In fact, the pay cut he'd have to take to join New York would be so significant that he'd be making 60 percent less of what he'd be making elsewhere on a team that gives him a Joe Johnson deal.

Overall, this could happen, but the Knicks really shot themselves in the foot when handing out dual $20 million deals to Anthony and Stoudemire when they could have given "Stat" $15 million and told him to bear with it for now so that they can actually sign 'Melo and CP3. Instead, they have $40 million wrapped up amongst two players, and only a drastic pay cut by Paul is going to put him in a Knicks uniform.