Jason Kidd Kids Carmelo Anthony About Signing With The Lakers As The New York Rivalry Continues

After LeBron James was mum on his plans for next season, Carmelo Anthony followed suit at a charity event yesterday. But not before his former teammate, Jason Kidd, got in a quip about Melo’s possible free agency next summer.

Kidd and Anthony were posing for photographers during a charity event on the 12th anniversary of 9/11 yesterday, when Kidd gently ribbed Anthony about possibly heading to LA. Anthony denied the implication to an atavistic TMZ “reporter” earlier this summer.

Carmelo is following LeBron’s lead by not talking about next summer’s possible — in Melo’s case probable — free agency. Both Anthony and LeBron — not to mention Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others — can opt-out of their contracts next summer to become unrestricted free agents. We’ve detailed the rumors that the Lakers might be trying to snag one or both of them, and Kidd had some fun with that at Carmelo’s expense.

Melo isn’t talking about his summer plans once the season starts even though he’s in the best possible position to opt out of the remaining year of his contract so he can re-sign with the Knicks for a lot more money. Still, he’s preparing us for a lot of “no comments” after training camp begins.

“I’m not. I’m just not going to do it,” he told reporters. “I’m going to let everybody know the first day that I’m not going to talk about it. Hopefully you guys and your colleagues respect that, and that’s it.”

Just a day before, by way of Newsday‘s Al Iannazzone, Melo spoke about a more long-term future in New York during an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers.”

“I’m not going nowhere,” said Anthony.

[…]

“That is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here to New York, just so I could take on those pressures and those challenges,” Anthony said. “A lot of people do not like to deal with the pressure. A lot of people do not know how to deal with the challenges they face. To me, it is everyday life.”

As he mentioned yesterday, ‘Melo will probably keep answering questions about this — and keep showing love to New York — until after media day.

Meanwhile, the Knicks-Nets rivalry continues — albeit in a much more jocular manner between friends Kidd and ‘Melo. The joking came a day after Dime‘s Q&A with Jason Terry when he lobbed another verbal grenade into the war of words between New York’s two pro basketball teams. The new Brooklyn Net, the Jet, claimed the only title the Knicks would win next season was the Rucker Park championship.

We live in New York so the back-and-forth is hysterical, but there are 28 other teams in the league and at least two or three in the Eastern Conference who would likely be able to beat both NYC teams in a seven-game playoff series. Doesn’t matter though because this is New York and if you’re a professional basketball player, there’s always going to be a reporter instigating the next wave of insults or slights.

What do you think?

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