Carmelo Anthony Trade Rumors: Is OJ Mayo Enough to Convince Denver?
According to the NBA rumor mill, the New York Knicks have explored several different angles and scenarios in an effort to acquire Carmelo Anthony from Denver.
On January 13th ESPN NBA beat reporter Chris Broussard tweeted about New York "reaching out" to Denver to initiate a three team deal that would bring "Melo" back to New York, his home town, while sending O.J. Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies to Denver.
Right, O.J. Mayo and who else?
The reason Carmelo Anthony is so difficult to trade is certainly not because no one wants him. Getting equal value for him is near impossible because there are only five players of Anthony's ilk in the world and none of them are forcing a trade to Denver.
Oh yes and this just in, you know those five players of Anthony's ilk, O.J Mayo is not among them.
Make no mistake, I'm not hating on O.J. He's a nice player and I believe Memphis wants to trade him in an attempt to upgrade a somewhat anemic bench. I could see him going for another second tier NBA player or two.
There is no shame in being a multimillionaire second tier player in the NBA. However, Mayo himself would have to be suffering from delusion of grandeur to think that he is on a level with the Carmelo Anthonys of the world.
If Mayo himself couldn't possibly come to the conclusion that he is worth a one for one trade for Anthony does anyone really believe that Denver does? That would be the worst trade since Golden State traded Robert Parrish and the draft pick that became Kevin McHale to Boston for Joe Barry Carroll.
While Anthony never openly asked to be traded, he did refused to sign a three year 65 million dollar contract extension to stay in Denver and his current contract expires at the end of this season.
His family lives in New York and it has been said that New York, or New Jersey, soon to relocate to New York, are the only teams he will sign with. That puts Denver in a tough spot because no other team is going to trade valuable players and picks when they know Anthony won't sign with them.
The trade deadline is a month away. Is Denver desperate enough to trade their Jaguar XJ12 for a Ford Fusion? I think not, but wait two or three weeks and we'll see.
