Remember the guy in the “Quitness” video who accused LeBron James of waiting “until the last week of free agency” to make his Decision — when the truth was LBJ actually ended his process the first day he could legally sign a contract?
That guy must hate Carmelo Anthony right now. While the basketball world waits for ‘Melo to either get traded or stay in Denver for the rest of the season, the drawn-out process is visibly affecting the rest of the League. In Detroit, for example, Rip Hamilton took an unexpected DNP-CD the other night because the Pistons reportedly didn’t want to risk Rip getting injured before they finalized a rumored three-team deal with the Nets and Nuggets involving ‘Melo and Rip. Meanwhile, in Denver, Chauncey Billups seems to have mentally checked out for a while as his name keeps being tied to trade rumors due to the ‘Melo situation, waiting for a verdict on what he should do with himself this season.
With the Nets/Nuggets/Pistons deal has stalled for whatever reason, new options continue to emerge. According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, the Knicks and Grizzlies are the parties involved in a new three-team trade proposal that would send Carmelo to New York and O.J. Mayo to Denver. So far the talks are in “infant stages,” so few details are available.
Mayo is aware of the situation, according to sources cited by ESPN, and would rather go to New York with ‘Melo and Amar’e Stoudemire and Ray Felton than go to a rebuilding situation in Denver — even though he would probably be The Man on the Nuggets for a while. So it sounds like by getting into this deal, the Nuggets would be taking a risk with Mayo potentially being disgruntled from Day One.
As far as what the Knicks can offer for ‘Melo, names being tossed around are Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Randolph and Landry Fields.
