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The Knicks chose not to add Allen Iverson to their roster and will move forward without him.

"We're not going to be making additions at this time to our team," Knicks president Donnie Walsh said, according to The New York Times. "So I guess that ends the speculation about Allen Iverson. It really has nothing to do with Allen Iverson. It's just a stage that our team is in right now -- what we've been trying to do since we got here in building a team for the future. It did get interesting for a while because Allen's a great player, has always been a great player.

"You're 1-9, you're going to start thinking, 'Well, we got to get some help in here.'"

The Knicks, now 2-9, had considered adding the 10-time NBA All-Star and four-time scoring champion to boost a team that has endured the worst start in franchise history entering Saturday's game at the winless Nets (0-12).

Neither Walsh nor head coach Mike D'Antoni spoke directly with Iverson before the decision was made, reports said.

As of Friday afternoon, Iverson had not made a public comment. He hasn't updated his Twitter account since Nov. 2.

The Knicks have cleared salary cap space to make a run at the vaunted free agent class of 2010 that includes LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Still, they could have added Iverson on a one-year rental at the veteran's minimum of $1.3 million without hindering their long-term plans. Had Iverson helped the team win a few more games and created a buzz around lifeless Madison Square Garden, it also could have made the situation more appealing for free agents.

On the other hand, the Knicks had to consider whether adding Iverson would have poisoned the locker-room culture and stunted the development of the young players they are trying to groom for the future. Those include Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and rookies Toney Douglas and Jordan Hill.

"We are always looking to improve the team, but Coach D'Antoni and I both feel an addition could hurt the development of the current players by taking away their minutes," Walsh said.

Another factor, according to Walsh, was the healthy return of 6-foot-11 center Eddy Curry. Curry looked good in his debut in Indiana on Wednesday night, scoring 10 points in 11 minutes. He suffered a torn right calf muscle on the first day of training camp but then underwent a significant weight-loss program and looks better than ever. D'Antoni told reporters Curry will play more minutes against the Nets.

"That's part of it, because Eddy is now on the team and we've got to develop a lot of attention to Eddy from a franchise standpoint, because he went out there in 11 minutes and I thought actually changed the game in a lot of ways," Walsh said, according to ESPN.com. "Their big guys were having their way with us, which big men do because David [Lee] is not a natural center, and when Eddy went in -- just the fact that he could take the ball and go at them -- I could see they went back on their heels and they weren't the same after that no matter who was playing. I thought he helped us win the game right there. He's got a lot of talent, he's got great size, you can see he's worked on his body tremendously, so yeah, Eddy is a guy we're very high on, and we wanted to work with him."

On Thursday afternoon, the Knicks were still considering adding Iverson, 34. At 6 p.m., Iverson passed through waivers, meaning the Knicks or another team could sign him.

But on Thursday evening the organization decided that it was not worth it because of the chemistry problems Iverson might create. Knicks owner Jim Dolan was reportedly opposed to the move but would have supported it had Walsh and D'Antoni been on board.

Iverson lasted only three games with the Memphis Grizzlies this season because he was unhappy coming off the bench. In New York he would likely have cost either Chris Duhon or Larry Hughes his starting job.

"I think to a degree we've been misleading, because we didn't know what we were going to do," Walsh said.

Many fans, and even some in the media, were in favor of adding Iverson, but Walsh said he wasn't concerned with that.

"I don't think you can build a basketball team based on polls," he said.