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Knicks Daily Roundup 5/21: NBA Hopes for Mid-July Return at Disney World

Check out all the latest Knicks news, notes, and links for Thursday, May 21.

-Don't call it a comeback. Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that the NBA's plan to return is beginning to take form. Disney World in Orlando has become the frontrunner to host games as a bubble site, and the hope is that all players can resume practicing in mid-June with actual games starting up in mid-July. You can read all of the recent details in Charania and Amick's piece here.

While nothing is set in stone, this is a significant piece of news, different from all of the theoretical talk that's been bounced around. There have been serious discussions between the NBA and Disney World, and with some states easing stay-at-home orders (including Florida), a path back to basketball seems possible. The pandemic has showed us it's anything but predictable, but for NBA fans (including Knicks fans), this offers a glimmer of hope.

-Walt Perrin and Frank Zanin come to New York with little fanfare, as the Knicks chose to make well-respected and not flashy hires for the front office. So what do Perrin and Zanin bring to the organization? SNY's Ian Begley spoke with people around the league about them. The praise was high for both, and that should come with no surprise, as they came from successful organizations in Utah and Oklahoma City, respectively. 

-Count Tyrese Haliburton as one draft prospect who would welcome the bright lights of MSG. Haliburton went on ESPN's The Jump and talked about the pressures of playing in New York, saying "I'm ready to play anywhere." The Iowa St. product both fills a position of need at point guard for New York and would likely be available if the Knicks remain at the sixth pick. You can read more about Haliburton from our own Kris Pursiainen and Marc Berman of The New York Post.

-Tim Hardaway Jr. was thrown into the Kristaps Porzingis trade in order to get rid of his salary. It looks like Dallas may have gotten more than just a bad contract. Mavericks' owner Marc Cuban went on WFAN and talked up Hardaway Jr. as a key piece for the team, saying "after the trade, he wasn’t quite confident of his role and we were asking him to do different things than the Knicks did." It's true that Hardaway Jr. has looked better in the role of spot-up shooter (he was shooting just above 40% from three this season) than as an inefficient gunner. Dallas has more talent than the Knicks, giving them the luxury of having Hardaway Jr. handle the ball less because they have Luka Doncic. This was part of the reason I always believed New York would be able to move Timmy without giving up assets. While the contract wasn't great, he's a solid player who will likely come off the books next offseason. You can read more about Cuban's comments and Hardaway Jr. from Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.