There's very likely truth to this report, even if it's just "morey called teams with cap space to see what their interest level would be" kind of stuff.
I do not doubt Morey will kick the tires on everything to get a full understating of the lay of the land so that he can make proper decisions. I expect him to do due diligence.
I'm willing to bet this was a tad more than "due diligence." Morey probably wanted to know if he had any options to dump CP3 if he needed to in order to get a guy like Butler. Reality is that Butler is EXTREMELY unlikely to opt in and risk that max deal. Sign and trade is difficult as well.
Why don't we just package and trade both Harden + CP3 together??? Lol. Let the new team deal with the problem! You want Harden? You got to take CP3 too! You think that's funny Knicks? You... the Knicks, think that's funny?!?!? Fine then, here you go: Harden + CP3 for Dennis Smith Jr, Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, #3 pick, RJ Barrett, 2021 unprotected first! That's a facetious joke, obviously... but would actually pretty hilarious and fun. There'd be room to go out and offer Randle a contract, I think. And you'd still have EG, Tucker and Capela.
Morey isn't a liar. He is upfront with his intentions with the Roster. This inquiry probably coincided with that portion of time when he said everyone except Harden was available.
It’s almost as if there’s a direct correlation between laying off a ton of coaching staff and all these leaks.
Could be. I wouldn't be surprised if Morey did explore this potential option. I do think he wants to add another star to make a big 3 in Houston though.
Everyone knows the Rockets want to dump Paul. This is non news, but if I were another teams' GM (or owner), I'd want a first and a second for each year left on his contract, and you would too, just admit it.
Tilman Landry: "Did you call the Knicks? What did they say?" Daryl Morey: "If there were news, don't you think I would have told you?" Tilman Landry: "Did you call them, though? What'd they say?" Daryl Morey: "They said, 'Daryl, I wouldn't touch CP3's contract with your d**k." Tilman Landry: "So, that's a 'no'." Daryl Morey: "If I may be so bold, I'd say it was a hard 'no'."