A Visual Guide to Amar'e Stoudemire's Summer of Free Agency

What an intense few days it has been. The Summer of LeBron is proving to be much more intense, overpaid and exciting than I ever thought it would be...and I thought it would get pretty crazy. Teams are locking up players like Amir Johnson and Drew Gooden for more than they're currently worth, hoping for the promise of a good return. Players like Rudy Gay are getting money that players like Kevin Durant will likely be getting, once he inks a new contract.

Heck, even Darko Milicic got a 4 year deal worth $20 million. What's next? New York tears up Eddy Curry's contract and offers him a lucrative extension? Have we all lost our collective minds?

Anyway, I digress. One of the hottest subjects of the past couple days has been whether or not Amar'e Stoudemire will resign with the Phoenix Suns, and if he doesn't, where he'll end up. So, I took the liberty of putting together a visual map of what's been happening with the 8-year All-Star forward. After the jump, you'll find the map, along with helpful links to tweets, reports and other rumors around the web.

(Click here to view the map in its full sized glory)

Much of what I'm about to write will be able to be found on the various threads already created specifically for tracking the big man's moves, but it can't hurt to post 'em again, right? Right.

Amar'e-palooza, Day One (Pre-Free Agency Bonanza)

Stoudemire opts out of contract - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

This is exactly what everyone expected. Even the most optimistic Suns fans knew he was going to tear up his final year. Nothing really to see here, so we continue along to hear it in Amar'e's own words...

 

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for our beloved Phoenix Suns. From here, the Amar'e supporters started to panic a little. Also of note, the Amar'e haters started foaming at the mouth.

Amar'e-palooza, Day Two (First Official Day of Free Agency)

Here's where the reports and rumors of interest from other teams start flying in. We'll start with Houston.

 

We also caught more word on the Amar'e/Suns contract negotiations. Even though Amar'e had opted out of his contract, he was still very open to hearing what the Suns had to offer. We caught word of possible contract offers from various sources:

Taken from Paul Coro's Twitter:

Sources repeatedly say Stoudemire wants to be in Phx. One said he'd take a 5-yr deal if Phx offered it. Maybe at less than max $.

Taken from John Gambadoro's Twitter:

Amare's first choice is to stay in Phoenix. But I am told he won't leave money on the table. Suns offer roughly 4/$84 - Max elsewhere 5/100.

Plus Amare wants 6 yrs from Phx not 5-So unless Phx caves in to demands all it will take is max offer from Mia, NY, Chi or Houst (sign+trd).

So, let's just recap: Amar'e opted out, remained open to the Suns, was reported that he wanted to stay with the Suns, then basically said, "Yeah, I want to stay with you guys, but I want more money than you're willing to give me. Up the ante or I'm out." Sounds about right.

azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Suns dish - PaulCoro - Amar'e, Miami, NY & 4 or 5 years

Here's where we catch more wind on the potential suitors. Miami and New York now make themselves known, while it is also reported on several other sites that places like New Jersey, Los Angeles (Clippers), Chicago, and Cleveland could also still make a play for the big man. I find most of those destinations not named Chicago a long shot, but hey...anything can happen.

More on the Amar'e/Suns front:

 

Here's where things start to get interesting. Many members of the media figured Amar'e to be an afterthought to the LeBron/Wade/Bosh show, but some teams apparently didn't get that memo. Not sure what the truth to this rumor is, but Gambo backed up by tweeting:

 

Amar'e-palooza, Day Three (Day Two of Free Agency)

It seems the reports that Stoudemire and the Suns are done are actually true. Further information came out about the Suns' last ditch effort to resign the man, and from there, the rest is history. Well, it's not quite history yet, as it hasn't actually happened yet, but it seems all but determined.

Suns sign Warrick; Stoudemire era over?

Details of the Suns' last contract pitch, quotes from Happy Walters, and more information on the Suns signing Hakim Warrick. All signs point to Stoudemire being gone, which back up the tweets and reports from the night before.

Now it's New York's turn to make a charge at STAT!

New York Knicks close to signing Amar'e Stoudemire to five-year, $100 million max contract

Boom! Unless things get crazy, I expect Amar'e to sign with the Knicks. Interesting, given the history between Amar'e and Coach D'Antoni. (Remember how Amar'e threw him under the bus for "not teaching defense"? Yeah. That.)

Note: Thread will be updated at the end of today (July 3rd) with the advances made on Amar'e and his signing with another team.