Donnie Walsh answered "Yes" when asked whether he had final say over the trade sending Carmelo Anthony to New York, and shrugged off reports that Isiah Thomas was advising James Dolan behind the scenes.

"I’m assuming Isiah's getting ready for the NCAA tournament," Walsh said, adding that he had "no idea" what role, if any, Thomas played in the trade discussions and "could care less."

Walsh indicated that the Knicks pulled the trigger on the trade in large part because of Chauncey Billups' inclusion.

"We decided we should go for it now because we get this guy, we get Chauncey Billups," Walsh said.

"All of the players were difficult to give up.  [Timofey] Mozgov was the last of them," Walsh said about the rookie center who was reportedly the final piece to getting the deal done.  "Then it came down to how much you want Carmelo and Chauncey."

Walsh indicated that the Knicks will be in the market to sign another major free agent in the summer after next.  He believes the team will have room to bring aboard a third maximum-salary player that season.

"No matter what happens we’ll have cap room [in 2012]," Walsh said.

Walsh is hopeful that Anthony and Billups will be available to make their Knick debuts in Wednesday's home game against the Bucks.

Mike D'Antoni also expressed support for the trade.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we have more talent today than we did yesterday," D'Antoni said.  "When you go out hunting would you rather have a bigger gun or a little gun? We went out and got a bigger gun."