Carmelo Anthony: Houston Rockets Lead Trade Contenders

Carmelo Anthony may not know where he's going to be playing in 2012, but he does know that he'll be playing for the United States in the Olympics. 

Which NBA team he'll be the small forward for is a much more complicated subject. 

This morning, reports surface from Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowksi that Melo would prefer to play for the Houston Rockets.

The Denver Nuggets and head coach George Karl would obviously prefer for the superstar to continue to score for his current team, but a trade is looking more and more inevitable at this point. 

So, who is interested and what do they bring to the table?

Houston Rockets

Right now the Rockets have to be viewed as the favorites to land Carmelo. 

Wojnarowksi wrote that "Despite significant speculation the New York Knicks are the team that Anthony would most likely want to join, two sources close to him insisted the Knicks have been overstated as an object of his desire. Privately, Anthony has expressed more enthusiasm over joining the Houston Rockets than the Knicks, sources said."

The Rockets have a $6.3 million trade exception, which makes all of the monetary negotiations far easier on both ends. 

If a Houston deal is in the works, the Nuggets are bound to be much more interested in receiving money for Anthony than anything else.

However, if Chase Budinger is included, the deal will look much better from the Nuggets end. 

New York Knicks

Up until the recent news, it seemed as though New York was the favorite to land the small forward. 

They have reportedly reached out to Carmelo's Nuggets many times. The most recent offer was Danilo Gallinari, Eddy Curry, and a future first round pick (possibly 2014). 

This trade never really got the Nuggets excited though, so it looks as though a new deal will have to be reworked for anything to happen between the two teams. 

New Jersey Nets

The Nets best chance of landing Carmelo Athony comes through their ridiculously talented core of young players. 

Jordan Farmar, Derrick Favors, Kris Humphries, Damion James, Brook Lopez, Ben Uzoh, Brian Zoubek, and Terrence Williams are all under the age of 25. 

General Manager Mikhail Prokhorov could afford to give up some of these young talents and build his team around Carmelo Anthony. And if he did so, the Nuggets would love to be on the receiving end of a trade involving young players. 

Orlando Magic

The Nuggets have been looking to upgrade their bigmen, and trading with the Magic to get Brandon Bass, Mickael Pietrus, and Marcin Gortat would certainly help. 

This may not seem like the best trade for the Nuggets, but if the other option is just to let Anthony walk, then they'll do it in a heartbeat. 

If General Manager Otis Smith goes back on his statements that the Magic aren't looking to acquire Carmelo Anthony, he definitely has the pieces to try and make the trade. 

Reportedly, the Magic are high up on Melo's list of potential teams.