Getty Carmelo Anthony and Steph Curry
Could Carmelo Anthony join the New York Knicks?
That’s not likely, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.
Begley stated that Anthony has been open to a reunion with the New York Knicks, but they simply don’t have a roster capable of adding him right now. That means the Los Angeles Lakers are probably the frontrunners.
Anthony was traded to NYC in 2011 for everything but the kitchen sink!
The Knicks sent Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and three draft picks to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter.
That deal bore fruit to a disaster that lasted longer than a New York Minute. Six years later, the Knicks have only had one 50-win season in the last decade.
For those keeping score at home: the Knicks were 207-269 while Anthony was a member of the team.
During that time, the orange and blue have won only one of four playoff series and missed the postseason each of the past four years.
Anthony is one of the greatest scorers and purest small forwards to play the game. As a Knick, he broke Bernard King’s longstanding Knicks 61-point single-game scoring record and Kobe Bryant’s 60-point mark for the most points ever scored at Madison Square Garden.
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Anthony hasn’t played NBA basketball since November 8, 2018, in a game against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. A 10-time NBA All-Star, Anthony signed with the Houston Rockets this summer after clearing waivers in a trade that shipped him from the Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks.
The third overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, it is believed by some that Anthony could end up joining the Lakers.
If you’re tardy to the party: the Lakers have formed a team that features both LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers are targeting Anthony in free agency and also have their eyes on JR Smith, who’s believed to be on the trade block currently and would likely be bought out following a deal.
“I think next season a team will possibly bring him in,” NBA Hall of Famer, Grant Hill told me of Anthony.
Anthony has averaged 24.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in his 16-year career with the Thunder, Knicks, Nuggets and Rockets. He’s a long small forward, and is the epitome of today’s game, as he has the ability to score in a number of ways.
Carmelo Anthony Considering Retirement?
But he’s also contemplated retirement.
In an interview with Taryn Finley of the Huffington Post recently, Melo suggested he is at peace with the fact he may not play much longer.
“I’m sure [retirement is] coming soon. I’d be sitting lying to you if I said it’s not coming soon. I think I want it to come soon. I don’t think I want to do this forever, but because you love it so much, it’s hard to give it up. At the end of the day, at anything you do, when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. But as long as you feel good with that.”
“He is one of the best 300 players in the world that’s not playing,” TNT’s Kenny Smith told me.
The Rockets traded Anthony to the Chicago Bulls before the NBA’s trade deadline and he was later waived. Now, the 35-year-old is waiting for the best deal to come around, but as Sacramento Kings assist coach Bobby Jackson told NBA writer Landon Buford, he needs to find the right situation.
“I think Carmelo’s game still adapts to today’s game, it just has to be the right situation,” Jackson stated.
“With Carmelo’s situation being that he is 15 or 16 seasons in, will he be willing to take a back seat by coming off the bench and being a limited role player in that offense? I think that is the biggest question with Carmelo.”
There’s a lot that remains unknown about Anthony’s future, but landing with the Lakers for the 2019-20 season would make a lot of sense.
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Lakers News: Carmelo Anthony Joining Knicks out, LA More Likely per Report