Carmelo Anthony expects to be traded by the Knicks prior to the season, and to this point we’ve heard the Rockets and Cavaliers are the two teams he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause to join. The Rockets were long considered the front-runner to land Anthony, but issues have popped up in those talks as the Knicks are trying not to bring in a contract like Ryan Anderson’s in return for Anthony.
The Cavaliers are suddenly intriguing due to the Kyrie Irving trade request, but New York doesn’t seem to have assets (outside of Kristaps Porzingis, who should be untouchable) that they could pair with Anthony to create an interesting package. For now, the Knicks appear to be locked in a holding pattern until they can figure out a deal with one of those two teams, or manage to find a different landing spot that Melo would sign off on.
That latter option could possibly be taking shape, as Bill Simmons of The Ringer reports Anthony has some interest in potentially joining the Thunder.
https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/889512805254045696
Simmons notes Anthony’s relationship with Troy Weaver, the assistant GM for the Thunder, as a critical reason why Anthony would consider waiving his no-trade to go to OKC. In Cleveland and Houston, Anthony has close personal friends on those teams in LeBron James and Chris Paul, and that’s clearly something he values greatly. Weaver being close with Anthony is helpful, as is having both Russell Westbrook and Paul George on the squad.
Anthony has Team USA experience with both of them and would fit in at the power forward spot nicely with those two to make a formidable offensive attack. The question — as is the case with Houston and Cleveland — is what can Oklahoma City send New York to make the money work? Enes Kanter’s deal, like Ryan Anderson’s, is long and expensive and wouldn’t offer any real cap relief for the Knicks. So, as with the Rockets, we’d likely need to see a third (or fourth) team get involved to eat Kanter’s contract and allow New York to take on a smaller, shorter term deal.
If the Thunder can manage to find that team, something Houston has apparently failed to do with Anderson, then they will become even more interesting to watch next season. Oklahoma City would have three stars and a powerful offensive attack, but all three stars could potentially enter free agency in 2018, meaning how they gelled and performed over the season would be fascinating to watch — good or bad.
