It was January 31.
During another brief break in the New York Knicks' schedule, general manager Leon Rose quickly completed a "blockbuster" trade.
The New York Knicks packaged their backup center, Andre Drummond, a fringe player on a minimum contract, and an unprotected second-round pick, sending them to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a top-45-protected second-round pick and a little cash.
The purpose of this trade was actually quite obvious: to clear salary cap space.
Although Drummond's salary was not particularly high that season, given the team's current situation, they really did seem to need that little bit of room.
After sending away two players at once, the Knicks successfully reduced their payroll, giving themselves a little more breathing room under the cap.
Immediately afterward, the New York Knicks turned around and extended an olive branch to veteran Chris Paul, offering him a one-year veteran minimum contract worth $3.3 million.
This might have been a move the Knicks had planned for a long time. It was also Chris Paul's last chance in his career to join an elite team and make a run at an NBA Championship.
Naturally, Paul had absolutely no reason to turn them down, and New York smoothly completed another signing.
They hoped Paul's arrival would bring more organized, more sensible offense to the team's rotation.
Another point worth mentioning was that, because the signing took place midway through the season, shortly before the deadline, Paul's contract would not actually count as $3.3 million against the team's salary cap.
Thanks to the League's veteran minimum subsidy rules, the team only needed to count $2.44 million when calculating its cap figure and tax bill.
This meant that, after this series of moves, the Knicks had not only successfully landed a high-level point guard, but also kept their