Before Phil Jackson signed Robin Lopez to a lucrative deal, the Knicks president expressed reservations about offering big money to a center with much better credentials.
Specifically, Jackson told a friend in February that he was weary of giving Memphis’ Marc Gasol a contract with a starting salary of $18 million. Jackson later signed Lopez to a four-year deal with an average salary of $13.5 million.
“It’s tricky. The question is who to offer the big money to?” Jackson said in the latest installment of his in-season interviews with his pal Charley Rosen, which was published Monday by ESPN.