Report: Carmelo Anthony Will Waive No-Trade Clause If NY Knicks Find Right Deal
Twenty.
That's the number of losses it's taken for Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks to wind up here, at an apparent impasse, where the threat of trade rumors looms large.
From the New York Post's Marc Berman:
"Five months after swearing his allegiance to New York and signing a five-year, $124 million contract, sources told The Post the All-Star forward would be open to dropping his no-trade clause if team president Phil Jackson strikes a deal with a team Anthony would like to play for. ...
For now, Anthony has no desire to be traded, but his willingness to consider giving up the no-trade clause shows how frustrated he has become with the Knicks’ historically bad start to the season.
"
Sure.
Mere months after signing a lucrative pact and declaring allegiance to the city of New York and its patience-demanding rebuild, Anthony wants or is on the verge of wanting out?
It sounds too fishy to be true.
Anthony's agent agrees, per the New York Daily News' Frank Isola:
So too does an Anthony confidant, according to ESPN New York's Ian Begley:
Oh, and so does Anthony himself.
"Come on, man," Anthony said, via Begley. "After all the work I did to get here and get back here? If I was to get up and want to leave now that would just make me weak, make me have a weak mind. I've never been a person to try to run from any adversity or anything like that, so I'm not going to pick today to do that."
To be fair, it's highly unlikely Anthony or his agent would publicly cop to closed-door unhappiness—probably due to something about proper business etiquette or Santa always watching or whatever.
To be even fairer, this potential unhappiness and subsequent report could just be symptoms of the times. The Knicks are 4-20 and streaking toward irrelevance fast. The famed triangle system also hasn't improved the offense; the Knicks rank 21st in points scored per 100 possessions, and their mid-range-heavy shot selection is something pulled out of an efficiency-eschewing time machine.
Chris Broussard of ESPN The Magazine also dropped some harrowing tidbits of information, alleging that Anthony and his teammates—specifically Tim Hardaway Jr.—weren't getting along. Both Hardaway and Anthony have since admitted to bickering in the moment, but maintain their relationship is fine and the team's commitment to the triangle is strong, per Begley.
But say that serious trouble actually is afoot in New York. Perhaps Anthony is truly turned off by the Knicks' direction, having underestimated the extent of the project at hand. What happens next?
Probably nothing.
Although Anthony can be traded starting Dec. 15, moving him won't be a mindless endeavor. He's on the wrong side of 30 and battling a pesky knee injury, and his $124 million contract includes a trade kicker that's worth 15 percent of its remaining value.
If he were dealt on Dec. 15, Berman says he would receive a "lump-sum payment of roughly $17.5 million." That, as Isola points out, makes a trade beyond unlikely:
Moving him last season, when he was a free-agent flight risk, would have been easier. He was both healthy and having one of his best seasons ever.
Of course, all this is assuming Anthony actually wants out. And when considering that scenario, we must also consider the possibility that, you know, he may not.
As Isola says:
Life isn't good at the moment for these Knicks. They are dipping their feet in Philadelphia 76ers waters and are in the middle of a distressing December slate that still includes tilts against the Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors. Their performance is also one that prospective free-agent targets are bound to shy away from over the offseason.
But, at least for now, there's one bright side for them to look on: Life isn't yet so bad that Anthony wants to leave.
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