The Carmelo Anthony to the Cavs rumor wheel is a’ spinning, and the latest bit of info is particularly juicy.
Last week it was reported that Cleveland and the New York Knicks couldn’t come to terms on a trade that would send Melo to the Cavs for a package that included Kevin Love.
On Monday, the New York Daily News reported that a source indicated LeBron James himself is pushing for the deal, adding Carmelo to a struggling Cavs team even if it costs them Kevin Love in the process.
According to a league source, LeBron is the one pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers front office to acquire Carmelo even if it means trading Kevin Love, which is something Cavs management is opposed to doing. Jackson is hoping to move Anthony prior to the Feb. 23 trading deadline and one player the Knicks have targeted is Love, who had 23 points with 16 rebounds in Cleveland’s win over the Knicks last Saturday.
Any deal for Anthony would require the Knicks’ leading scorer to waive his no-trade clause and the consensus is that Anthony would agree to play for the defending champs and his long-time friend LeBron.
Any deal involving Anthony would be complicated because of his contract, but why would the Cavs give up Love at this point? And who is leaking this kind of information to the media in the first place? It’s fitting that the news is coming out of New York and not Cleveland. Then again, that’s not the only report of players desperate to get Carmelo Anthony on their team.
League sources indicate that both LeBron James & Chris Paul have pushed CLE & LAC respectively to trade for Carmelo Anthony at any cost.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 7, 2017
OK. Sure. But this all does seem pretty insane. Now Chris Paul is playing general manager, too? The Daily News story tries to frame this with James being placated by Cavs management with coaching decisions in the past. It also points out that basketball players are often friends with other basketball players and often spend time with their friends. Which is true! But this doesn’t mean they are barging into the front office asking for a play date. Also the Cavs don’t need any more reports that James is putting pressure on management to spend. This is all, in a word, wild.
The report also suggests James is an “ally” to Phil Jackson, but that doesn’t seem all that likely given that whole posse controversy from a few months ago. Considering he showed little remorse for that, I doubt the two have suddenly teamed up to rock the basketball world before the All-Star break.
But sure, let’s monger these rumors a little bit and see what happens here. No lead is safe in sports anymore and every trade is possible. The future is unwritten.
(Via New York Daily News)
