It has been widely reported for the past week or so that Jeremy Lin was going to receive a contract offer from the Houston Rockets. Although it has been a foregone conclusion for an equivalent duration that the Knicks would match said offer, the previously reported terms (first two years around $5 million, third around $9.3 million, fourth with a team option for the same) have changed, and the contract has been shortened.

David Aldridge is reporting that the final (option) year of the contract has been sliced off, and the third year of the deal will spike to about $14.9 million U.S. American dollars that are real and aren't Monopoly money and can be used at grocery stores and malls and laundromats so long as you don't need coins (hate that). That's the major change. The contract (which, by the way, Lin has officially signed) now looks like this:

Year One: $5 million

Year Two: $5.225 million

Year Three: $14.898 million

This totals $25.1 million, as opposed to the previously reported $28 million offer, and the repercussions could be interesting. The contract was always viewed as a glorified three year version, as team options allow for maximum flexibility, but $15 million is a lot of loot to come off the books in 2015, and it is also a ton of money to guarantee a guy who has the same number of NBA starts as millions of dollars are being offered. God Bless America. Howard Beck asserts that the Knicks will almost certainly take the full three days to match, which is common.

So, whatchy'all think?