Is Lin worth the price?

The Knicks' decision on Jeremy Lin will come Tuesday , as reports continue to suggest that the team will not match the offer sheet the phenom signed with Houston.

The three-year, $25 million contract includes a "poison pill" third year that would cost the Knicks $14.8 million. But the cost of his third year would be far more than that because of the luxury tax, according to ESPN. When factoring in the luxury tax hit signing Lin would have, the true cost of the deal could balloon to as much as $57 million, ESPN said.

After hearing about the terms of the contract, the Knicks agreed to a sign-and-trade deal to bring point guard Raymond Felton back to New York, and sources have told numerous outlets that the team will not match Lin's offer.

Still, the Knicks could match the offer sheet and not have to give up any players or draft picks for a potential budding star - and a very valuable star to the Knicks brand.

According to Chris Matcovich of tiqiq.com, a ticket resale website, the average price of Knicks tickets sold before Lin's coming-out party on Feb. 3 was $229.72. On Feb. 20, at the height of Lin-sanity, the average price was $313.54, an increase of 36.45% in just 10 games.

Fans also point to the Knicks spend-happy history - the team paid point guards Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis more than $32 million combined on the 2006-07 team that went 33-49 - and ask why Lin, who led the team to a 15-10 record in 25 starts, wouldn't get the same treatment. An online petition to the Knicks front office to keep Lin had garnered more than 7,000 signatures by Monday evening.

"The Knicks have a history of overpaying far less promising players," said Seth Rosenthal of postingandtoasting.com, who said that a majority of his readers want the Knicks to re-sign Lin. "It would be weird to draw the line at Lin, the first genuinely promising point guard the Knicks have employed in 20 years."

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns amNewYork.