Carmelo Anthony is currently operating in NBA purgatory, as he remains on the Houston Rockets roster in a technical sense, but not a practical one. Common sense dictates that the Rockets would like to trade the future Hall of Fame forward but, at the moment, it is unclear as to whether there is significant interest around the league and Marc Stein of The New York Times in his weekly newsletter tackled that topic on Tuesday evening.
Stein notes that, while Anthony is now trade-eligible, teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers “have resisted the idea” of acquiring his services to this point. Beyond that, Stein also reports that the Charlotte Hornets, who could theoretically use scoring punch, have “likewise passed to date” and, at the moment, obvious fits for Anthony are hard to come by.
Though Anthony has only been away from the floor since Nov. 15, it feels like a lifetime has passed since he was a meaningful contributor and he didn’t put much on tape in a positive sense during the early portion of the season. Somewhere along the way, it seems likely that he will reappear on an NBA floor but, if the Rockets can’t find a taker via trade, Anthony will be reliant on a buyout of some sort to create the type of freedom he could use to land elsewhere.
There’s still time to set up his next act but, at the moment, seemingly obvious destinations reportedly aren’t all that interested.
