Dave D'Alessandro of the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports: The clock is still ticking on Scott Layden, who has nine days (until Dec.2) to use or lose the $4.5 million Disabled Player Exception granted him after losing Antonio McDyess.

However, he might end up not using it at all.

"There's no guarantee," Layden said. "Certainly teams are aware that it's there. You don't want to use it to make a bad deal, so we'll use it in a prudent fashion to make the team better if we can.

That was our goal when we first got it, but we can't just use it to take a player." Indeed, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan reiterated yesterday that "Scott has the resources to use, but not to waste," meaning that if the team cannot get a useful, rotation-worthy player in exchange, there is no reason to use it, since the Knicks would have to pay another $4.5 million in luxury tax in a money-for-player deal.

RealGM note: We will just have to wait and see what happens but deals have had a history of materializing around the expiration date of Disabled Player Exceptions.