It’s no secret that the New York Knicks were shopping Carmelo Anthony long before they eventually sent him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in September. But in a recent interview, Anthony revealed just how desperate the Knicks were to trade him.
Former Knicks president Phil Jackson was willing “to trade me for a bag of chips,” Anthony told Marc Stein of the New York Times. But after Jackson was fired in June, “they went from asking for peanuts to asking for steak,” he added.
Anthony spent seven years in New York but the Knicks could never find a core to work well with him, leaving them out of the playoffs in four of those seasons. By joining the Thunder, Anthony will get his first chance to make a significant run in the playoffs alongside fellow superstars Russell Westbrook and Paul George.
While powerhouse teams like the Golden State Warriors stand in their way, Anthony is still looking forward to getting a fresh start, especially with how his final season in New York went.
“There was no support from the organization,” Anthony said. “When you feel like you’re on your own and then on top of that you feel like you’re being pushed out.
“I think at that point it was too far gone.”
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Multiple teams had expressed interest in acquiring Anthony over the summer, including the Houston Rockets. While the final decision to go to the Thunder did come down to Anthony, he revealed to Stein that his son may have helped him make his choice.
“My son has a basketball mind,” Anthony said. “So I will always throw little topics at him. He was like, ‘Dad, where you getting traded to?’ I told him, ‘I don’t know, where do you think I should go?’ He said: ‘You really want me to give you my opinion? I think you should go to O.K.C.’”
Anthony will make his Thunder debut Thursday, against the Knicks in New York.
