It must be awkward for Carmelo Anthony in New York these days.
The (former?) superstar forward is the highest-paid player and face of a Knicks franchise that would be far better off if he wasn’t either of those things.
Kristaps Porzingis, the club’s 21-year-old big man, is progressing far faster than projected (in his sophomore season he’s already averaging 19.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and two blocks while hitting two threes per game and shooting 40 per cent from deep) and, like Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee or Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota, appears ready to take the reigns of an NBA team.
That likely won’t happen as long as Melo is around, which leaves the organization — who already signed Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah to massive, regrettable deals last summer — officially stalled.
Naturally, the situation sparked a ton of trade speculation as the struggling Knicks (11th in the East and losers of 11 of their last 13 games) are, justifiably, looking to the future. And wouldn’t you know it? The Carmelo Anthony-New York Knicks saga continues today, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports of a meeting between Anthony and team president Phil Jackson.
Jackson has yet to publicly comment on the situation with his increasingly disgruntled star, who always maintained that he wanted to stay in New York — the NBA’s largest market — despite body language during games that would suggest otherwise. Anthony has recently at least acknowledged that a trade is possible and reports came out earlier in the week that he would only approve a move to the Clippers or Cavaliers.
In any event, it doesn’t look like this will end well — or at least amicably — for either party.
While his numbers have dropped off, Melo remains one of the more talented players in the NBA and isn’t more than a couple of seasons removed from being a candidate as the league’s best pure scorer. He can still get hot and take over stretches of games and the nine-time all-star still carries good name-recognition, which could be tempting for teams who could use an infusion of both talent and national attention (like, say, the New Orleans Pelicans). A change of scenery would almost certainly bring out the best in his game.
But the 32-year-old forward has a player option for next season at $27 million and his production remains stagnant from last season as he falls further and further from his prime.
To complicate matters, Shelburne went on to say that Melo reportedly told Jackson that ultimately he wants to remain a Knick.
He would have to waive a no-trade clause for any potential deal to go through. Stay tuned.
