Carmelo Anthony Says for 'Some Reason' Trade to Rockets Didn't Go Through

New Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony said he believed there was an agreement in July to trade him from the New York Knicks to the Houston Rockets, but the deal fell through for unknown reasons.

Frank Isola‏ of the New York Daily News passed along comments Melo made about the situation Thursday during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio.

"A deal was done with Houston," Anthony said, before adding for "some reason … it didn't go through."

Joining James Harden and Chris Paul with the Rockets was viewed as the 10-time All-Star's preference for most of the offseason.

In July, Marc Berman of the New York Post reported Anthony only planned to waive his no-trade clause if the Knicks worked out a deal with Houston, calling it "Rockets or bust."

The 33-year-old Syracuse product's stance began to soften as the 2017-18 season drew closer, though. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com noted Sunday the forward added OKC and the Cleveland Cavaliers to his list of acceptable landing spots. A deal with the Thunder was completed Monday.

Further details surrounding the possible trade with the Rockets are unclear. Finding a way to move Ryan Anderson's bloated contract was seen as the key to Houston fitting Anthony under the cap and that never happened.

Instead, the 2012-13 NBA scoring champion will team up with reigning MVP Russell Westbrook and fellow All-Star forward Paul George, who was acquired from the Indiana Pacers earlier in the summer, in Oklahoma City to make the squad a formidable threat to the Golden State Warriors.

He's expected to start at power forward, allowing the Thunder to keep defensive stalwart Andre Roberson on the floor to guard an opponent's top perimeter threat.

"I've been playing the 4 almost all my career," Anthony told reporters. "Even in Denver, we was one of those teams with George Karl, kinda started going playing that small ball, putting me at the 4, picking up the pace. We kind of started that. And the league wasn't ready for that at that time. It was all about traditional bigs and power forwards and centers. And now, it's just whoever."

Just to add a little extra drama, the new-look Thunder are scheduled to kick off the regular season Oct. 19 against the Knicks.