Joe Johnson signed a six-year, $123.7 million contract with the Atlanta Hawks in 2010, but seriously considered the New York Knicks.

“Almost. Almost,” Johnson recalled of the Knicks’ contention. “The Knicks were the first team I met with.”

Johnson met with Mike D'Antoni, Allan Houston and James Dolan.

“We all met and talked and they had a great presentation. It was impressive. You know what threw me off more than anything?” Johnson asked. “Obviously there was the money difference, but they said, ‘You needed a place in Westchester and you needed a place in the city.’ They said you would roughly spend like $5 million.

“I was like, ‘aw, no,’ as opposed to being in Atlanta where I was already established with a solid team that was getting better every year. And I didn’t have to buy nothing or make any changes, and we had the arena and the practice facility in one place. It took me roughly 20 minutes with traffic to get there. Oh no. So then I never even imagined being in New York.”

D'Antoni isn't sure if the Knicks actually told Johnson that.

“I don’t know if we told him that,” D’Antoni said. “But he could afford it anyway. Obviously he made his choice, and for Atlanta, he was great.”