A Deal To Send Carmelo Anthony From The Knicks To The Rockets Might Be Very Close

Carmelo Anthony might finally be traded by the New York Knicks. Reports out of New York on Wednesday indicated that a deal to send Anthony to the Houston Rockets is close, though it may be complicated.

The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that a deal may actually happen, with a source borrowing a football term and describing the potential trade as “at the two-yard line.”

A deal that would end the Carmelo Anthony era in New York and reunite the All-Star forward with Mike D’Antoni in Houston “is at the two-yard line,” a person familiar with the trade negotiations told the Daily News.

On Wednesday, ESPN reported that the Knicks and Rockets are trying to recruit a fourth team into a proposed deal to facilitate a blockbuster trade. The deal needs to be expanded due to Anthony’s contract and because the Knicks are opposed to acquiring Rockets forward Ryan Anderson.

I’m not sure what it means to have a trade deal at the two-yard line in a basketball sense, but I suppose that means there are some opportunities to fail here. Still, Chris Paul was asked about a potential trade by The Undefeated on Tuesday and played it coy.

“Sit back and wait,” was Paul’s response when asked about a potential deal to bring Carmelo to Houston. One interesting thing about bringing Anthony to Houston is that it would further complicate how that offense works. Paul himself didn’t have any insight into how he and James Harden will play together.

Anthony needs shooters around him to thrive, but Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni will already have his hands full trying to find a way to make Harden and Paul coexist in a cohesive scheme. The idea of assembling super teams is great if you’re compiling big names and big contracts on one team, but actually making these names work well together and compete against a team like Golden State is an entirely different problem.

One thing to note is that any “differences” Anthony and D’Antoni may have had have now been settled, clearing the way for this deal to happen in the first place.

Paul said to sit and wait, but it looks like maybe we won’t have to wait all that much longer to see Carmelo finally leave New York.