Report: Knicks Will Talk With Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire Before Meeting With LeBron James

While the Knicks are expected to make a strong push for LeBron James this summer, their free agent pursuits won't actually begin in Ohio, but instead in California.

That's because the Knicks will meet with Hawks guard Joe Johnson at midnight on July 1 when the NBA's free agency period begins.

Johnson likely won't be the only free agent the Knicks will meet with while on the west coast. They are also slated to meet with Suns forward Amare Stoudemire who will also be a highly-sought after free agent this summer.

Both Johnson and Stoudemire are All-Stars, and perhaps even more enticing to the Knicks is the fact that both are familiar with the Knicks' style of play. Johnson and Stoudemire were teammates together in Phoenix when current Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni coached the Suns.

The Knicks will then meet with James at 1 p.m. ET in Ohio, according to sources sited in Chris Broussard's ESPN.com story.

And while most believe the Knicks will offer James everything they can possibly give him, it's tough to argue the potential success of a contingency plan involving both Johnson and Stoudemire.