Houston, you can have him.

That was the message the Knicks sent on Tuesday when they decided not to match Jeremy Lin's three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet from the Rockets.

The team announced its decision on Tuesday night, confirming several reports that surfaced over the weekend stating that the Knicks would not match Lin's offer.

"Much love and thankfulness to the Knicks and New York for your support this past year...easily the best year of my life#ForeverGrateful," Lin tweeted Tuesday night.

"Extremely excited and honored to be a Houston Rocket again!!#RedNation," Lin added in another tweet.
A team source told earlier this week that the third year of the Rockets' offer -- worth $14.8 million -- caused the Knicks to consider letting Lin go. If the Knicks matched the offer, they would have been subject to a luxury tax in the third year, potentially bringing their total out-of-pocket cost for the team's salary to about $43 million in 2014-15.

The Rockets' offer to Lin would pay him $5 million in the first year, $5.225 million in the second and $14.8 million in the third, according to sources.

The Knicks will turn to Raymond Felton at point guard. Felton was acquired in a sign-and-trade announced on Monday. The Knicks decision ends Lin's brief but unforgettable run in New York.

The 23-year-old averaged 14.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 35 games with 25 starts before his season was cut short because of surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee.

But in the 35 games he was healthy, Lin went from an end-of-the-bench afterthought to an international phenomenon.

The undrafted guard out of Harvard, who was cut twice in the preseason (once by the Rockets) and played in the D-League, set the league on fire in February, leading the Knicks to seven consecutive wins. He scored at least 20 points in nine of 10 games during that stretch.

Lin, a restricted free agent, made $788,000 last season. The hefty raise Houston offered of $25.1 million over three years was too much for the Knicks to match.

【新聞快訊】

北京時(shí)間7月18日，三天期限已到，最終尼克斯選擇了放棄匹配火箭開(kāi)給林書(shū)豪的那份3年價(jià)值2510萬(wàn)美元的報(bào)價(jià)合同，這意味著林書(shū)豪的紐約歲月已經(jīng)正式結(jié)束，他將前往曾經(jīng)裁掉過(guò)自己的火箭在休斯敦繼續(xù)自己的職業(yè)生涯。

雅虎體育記者馬克-斯皮爾斯透露說(shuō)，尼克斯發(fā)言人已經(jīng)確認(rèn)，他們將不會(huì)匹配火箭開(kāi)給林書(shū)豪的報(bào)價(jià)合同，林書(shū)豪已經(jīng)正式成為了火箭球員。這則消息也得到了尼克斯當(dāng)?shù)孛襟w《紐約每日新聞》記者伊安那松的證實(shí)。

根據(jù)此前的報(bào)道，火箭給林書(shū)豪開(kāi)出的這份合同具體細(xì)節(jié)為為期三年，三年全部保障，總價(jià)值2510萬(wàn)。前兩年林書(shū)豪的年薪都在500萬(wàn)美元以上，而第三年他的年薪將暴漲到1489萬(wàn)美元。

林書(shū)豪跟火箭頗有淵源，去年他曾短暫加盟火箭，但后來(lái)在新賽季開(kāi)始前，為了簽下自由中鋒達(dá)姆波特，火箭選擇了將林書(shū)豪裁掉騰空間。隨后林書(shū)豪加盟了尼克斯，并在賽季中期掀起了一股“林熱潮”，他的爆發(fā)也曾令火箭總經(jīng)理莫雷頗為后悔。

在加盟火箭后，林書(shū)豪將扮演火箭主控的角色，此前火箭已經(jīng)將洛里送到了猛龍，并放任德拉季奇回歸太陽(yáng)，在一號(hào)位火箭已經(jīng)無(wú)大將可用，林書(shū)豪是他們?cè)谝惶?hào)位唯一能夠依仗的球員。

上賽季，林書(shū)豪代表尼克斯出戰(zhàn)35場(chǎng)比賽，其中首發(fā)25場(chǎng)，他場(chǎng)均可以貢獻(xiàn)14.6分3.1個(gè)籃板6.2次助攻1.6個(gè)搶斷，投籃命中率為44.6%。根據(jù)ESPN的統(tǒng)計(jì)，林書(shū)豪每36分鐘的得分和助攻數(shù)據(jù)比洛里和德拉季奇均要出色，他有能力扮演好火箭主控的角色。

（中文新聞部分摘自網(wǎng)易體育）