A New York Times article today reports that the New York Knicks will not be signing Allen Iverson. A turn of events, as yesterday it seemed as if the four-time NBA scoring champion would be signing with the Knicks.

An excerpt from the article:

In an abrupt reversal, Knicks officials decided late Thursday not to offer Iverson a contract, putting an end to their brief flirtation, according to a person close to the deliberations.

Although team officials were highly intrigued by Iverson, a four-time scoring champion, they finally decided that he posed too great a risk because of his long history of problems on and off the court.

Team officials spent three days weighing the potential merits and pitfalls of signing Iverson, and alternately talked themselves into and then out of making the move … By Thursday afternoon it appeared that the Knicks were fully committed to taking the gamble, with one person close to the team saying there was a 90 percent chance that Iverson would become a Knick.

But team officials held one more discussion on the matter Thursday evening and decided to drop it, according to the person close to the deliberations.

As I said yesterday, bringing in Iverson would have sold tickets and the Knicks may have won a few more games, but the long term problems he may have caused wasn’t worth the risk. Iverson’s history of problems and flat-out bratty behavior couldn’t be ignored.

(Discuss Allen Iverson’s declining NBA career)

It’s nice to see the Knicks make the right move, and that’s continuing to develop their younger players.

Signing Allen Iverson would not have gotten the Knicks any closer to winning an NBA championship and it is apparent, from Iverson’s stints in Detroit and Memphis, that he wasn’t about to change his playing style.

Iverson cleared the NBA waiver wires last night at 6pm, meaning that an NBA team is no longer bound to the contract he signed with Memphis. Iverson is now an unrestricted free-agent.