After a nice little vacation, the Carmelo Anthony trade rumor mill is cranked back up and running full throttle.
Recently, two hypothetical scenarios have emerged sending ‘Melo to the two biggest media markets in the NBA: New York and L.A.
In the Knicks rumor, ‘Melo would be part of a three-team trade involving the Timberwolves, where Wilson Chandler and Corey Brewer would go to Denver, and Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry would go to Minnesota.
Should ‘Melo end up in L.A., it would be with the two-time defending champion Lakers. According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, the Nuggets and Lakers have had “preliminary discussions” about a ‘Melo trade. Names being mentioned going back to Denver are Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom.
While a Bynum-for-‘Melo trade 1-for-1 does work financially, the Nuggets are trying to shed salary and would likely want more parts involved. Plus, the Lakers would have to decide if they want to (1) give up their future franchise center, and (2) drastically revamp a team that has already won two championships and is in the middle of aiming for a third.
Not to mention, Kobe Bryant has to be on board with adding ‘Melo to the mix. And it says here that Kobe is way too competitive to want to play with another superstar — he wants to win on his own and doesn’t want to make it easy on himself with talented teammates — to approve adding arguably the best scorer in the world.
Lakers fans: Would you be OK with having Carmelo on the team, or do you not want to take the easy way out?
