Getty
The New York Knicks have been considering a trade of Carmelo Anthony for quite a while now. Unfortunately, Anthony was reportedly only interested in waiving his no-trade clause for the Houston Rockets or Cleveland Cavaliers. But even as early as this past week, Anthony had been rumored to be prioritizing a deal to the Rockets over the Cavaliers.
All had been pretty quiet since that point, though, and as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski pointed out earlier this week, the Knicks were even considering trying to keep Anthony. Now, just to flip the script once again, it seems that since point guard Kyrie Irving may be on the market, the Knicks are reportedly interested in re-opening conversations with the Cavaliers.
Getty
As ESPN’s Ian Begley reported, the Knicks front office “would not be willing at this point to include Kristaps Porzingis in a trade,” but they would consider a deal that included Anthony.
“Some with the organization would be willing to include future first-round picks and Carmelo Anthony in a deal for Irving, per league sources.” Begley reported.
Overall, it’s hard to argue that a trade which included Anthony and multiple first-round picks wouldn’t be enticing for the Cavaliers. The team needs to find a way to keep LeBron James happy at this point, especially with rumors that he may be interested in leaving for Los Angeles in 2018 free agency.
In order for a trade featuring Anthony for Irving to work for the Cavaliers, they’d need to find a way to clear up some additional cap space. As Spotrac points out, Anthony is set to make $26.24 million next season, while Irving is in line to be paid $18.86 million.
This situation would get even more interesting if the trade actually did go through, though. This is due to the fact that back in February, the New York Daily News reported that James had been pushing the team to trade for Anthony, even if it meant moving Kevin Love. There has to be some potential for a bit of uncomfortableness due to that if the trade was to go through.
Even still a deal featuring Anthony for Irving makes a lot of sense. Not only does Anthony have the Cavaliers on his short list, but as ESPN’s Chris Haynes reported, the Knicks are on Irving’s list of preferred landing spots as well.
ESPN Sources: On Kyrie Irving front, Cavs were given four preferred landing spots: New York, Miami, San Antonio, Minnesota.
Maybe the stars are just going to align on this potential deal and both sides can wind up happy in the end.
