Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks continue to dance around the possibility of the star forward being traded at some point this season.
Anthony recently had a conversation with Knicks president Phil Jackson about his future with the team after some frustrations with what Jackson’s friend Charley Rosen wrote about Anthony on Jan. 12. Coming out of that meeting, Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, insisted he wanted to stay in New York. The Knicks, whether they wanted to move him or not, would be at the whim of Anthony, who has long stated his love for New York City even before joining the Knicks.
However, on Friday, Al Iannazzone of Newsday spoke with Anthony about his future with the team, and Anthony revealed that if the Knicks decided to go for a total rebuild that he would have to at least consider waiving his no-trade clause.
“I think it will be more on the front office,” Anthony told Newsday. “I have the power, but still I would talk to them. We would be in communication if they feel like they want to go in a different direction, they want to start rebuilding for the future. If they tell me they want to scrap this whole thing, yeah, I have to consider it.”
Anthony insisted to Iannazzone that he and his family are “settled” in New York. The 32-year-old star has two years remaining on his contract following this season, with an early termination option before the 2018-19 season when he is set to make $27.9 million.
The Knicks will have open cap space this offseason as the salary cap is projected at near $102 million, but they will have north of $55.7 million tied up between Anthony, Joakim Noah and Courtney Lee alone, along with a decision to make on Derrick Rose. It’s possible that the Knicks would choose to go the rebuild route once Rose is off the books, but that would likely require other moves to be made first, most notably finding a way to unload Noah’s contract that owes him $55.6 million through the 2019-20 season.
If the Knicks were able to do that, it would signal the significant change in direction towards a rebuild that would force Anthony to at least consider waiving that no-trade clause. Otherwise, it looks like Anthony will be in New York for at least the next two seasons despite having differences of opinion with Jackson.
