Basketball, Nba Free Agency | featured news

Say goodbye to Linsanity, New York. Jeremy Lin is taking his game off Broadway -- way off -- to Houston after the Knicks announced Tuesday night they would not match the Rockets' three-year, $25 million offer for the restricted free agent. "Extremely excited and honored to be a Houston Rocket again!!" Lin posted on his Twitter account. "Much love and thankfulness to the Knicks and New York for your support the past year...easily the best year of my life."

Tim Duncan, who declared himself "a Spur for life" in March, reportedly has followed through on his intentions to remain in San Antonio. The 36-year-old franchise cornerstone has agreed to a three-year contract to return to the Spurs, Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday. The website reported the contract is expected to be worth approximately $36 million, or in the same range of the deal that Kevin Garnett agreed to with the Boston Celtics last week.

The Orlando Magic have re-opened negotiations with teams other than Brooklyn Nets for Dwight Howard, a league source told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher... The Nets have been trying to acquire the Magic's star center but need other teams to help facilitate the blockbuster trade. Sources told ESPN.com on Monday the Nets and Magic were cautiously optimistic the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers would help them facilitate a four-way trade to send Howard to Brooklyn.

A person with knowledge of the deal said Thursday that New York Knicks restricted free-agent guard Jeremy Lin and the Houston Rockets have agreed to terms on a four-year contract offer. The person told The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the team hadn't officially announced the deal. Lin can sign the offer sheet with Houston on July 11, and the Knicks will then have three days to match the offer.

Jason Kidd would also be invaluable as a mentor to Jeremy Lin, the Knicks’ precocious 23-year-old point guard, assuming they can keep him.