Lin's return to New York isn't set in stone

Last week the NBA Players Association filed to seek an arbitration hearing based on players who lost their early "Birds Rights".  According to sources the arbitration date will be set for sometime this week and it's especially important to the Knicks due to it allowing the Knicks to be able to resign Jeremy Lin and not exceed the salary cap.  This is where it gets confusing:  Either way the Knicks can't be outbid for the services of Lin since he's a restricted free agent however; if Lin retains his early Bird Rights, the Knicks wouldn't have to dip into their Mid Level Exemption to keep him as they would like to use the Mid Level Exemption to sign the likes of Steve Nash and/or Andre Miller to help Lin.  The Mid Level Exemption is valued at $5 Million a year.