Knicks Rumors: Baron Davis Is Making the Right Choice with New York

Today Baron Davis will sign with the New York Knicks, and it's the best possible choice for him to make. Of the three teams that would be most willing to ink him, the Knicks give him the best possible combination of being on a contender and being a significant aspect of it. 

The three teams—the Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat—all offer him a chance to be the starter, but for different reasons he is better off in New York than either of the other two teams. 

The Lakers are on the precipice of imploding. Yes, I know it's the Lakers and I know their history. I also know that while Kobe is saying he's a Laker for life, that doesn't mean he's a happy Laker right now. The Lakers right now are just a team on the decline. 

Lamar Odom is gone. Pau Gasol is bothered and distracted. Kobe Bryant is angry. The Lakers right now aren't acting like a team that is digging in and resolving to better after last year's sweep at the hands of the Mavericks; they are acting like a team that was psychologically defeated. Right now the Lakers don't look like they are contenders. 

The Heat are looking like contenders and world-beaters after they tore off Dwight Howard's head and played soccer with it last night. They destroyed the Magic. 

Certainly Davis would have a great chance to be on a contender on the Heat. The problem there is that it would take a monumental ego check. He would be a player that would be asked to check his game and play a limited role. 

While much gets made of the willingness of players to take a pay cut, play is often mitigated if they are asked to take an ego cut along with it. 

In New York Davis will be asked to come in and navigate a team that is stocked for a point guard. Essentially he can be a passenger in a slightly faster race car or a driver in a slightly slower one. 

Davis' toughest decision now will be whether to feed the ball to Carmelo Anthony or Amar'e Stoudemire, or, if worse comes to worse because both are double teamed, whether to just put it up and score. 

You can argue he'd have "better weapons" in Miami, but he wouldn't be pulling the trigger. That's why the best choice for Davis is the New York Knicks.