NBA Trade Rumors: Why Denver Nuggets Must Trade Carmelo Anthony by All-Star Game

The Denver Nuggets must move superstar Carmelo Anthony by this Sunday’s All-Star game or risk becoming the Cleveland Cavaliers of the 2011-2012 NBA season.

That’s because the longer Denver waits, the more a gun will be put to their head and the less value they’ll get in return for Melo. 

I’m so amazed Denver’s waited this long.

Holding onto Melo is like owning a house in a declining real estate market: The sooner you sell, the more you make. The longer you wait, the less you’ll get.

This is exactly where Denver sits. We are eight days away from the NBA trade deadline. Eight days for Denver’s riches to spoil.

The closer it gets, the more other NBA teams know they have the Nuggets by the proverbial you know what.

That’s because Denver can’t risk not trading Melo by the deadline. If they don’t pull the trigger, the Nuggets will be the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.

No one knows what will happen, but I do know this: If Melo isn’t traded, he’ll walk next summer and Denver gets nothing. That’s why the Nuggets must do something and do it now.

Denver’s GM and ownership has dropped the ball on this one nearing historic proportions (outside of Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers.) The Nuggets should have moved Melo when they had the chance.

They must have missed the most important part of Basketball GM 101 Class: The lesson in trading superstars is that you might not get equal value for the star you’re giving up.

But you’ll get something. So, you be smart and make a move or be left with nothing (see Cleveland.)

The best GM’s have made moves long before their feet got over the fire. 

Look at Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss and his GM, Mitch Kupchak. They traded Shaquille O’Neal with multiple years left on his contract. And, hear this, the Lakers didn’t get equal value.

But LA got something. Actually, they got Lamar Odom and if you want to follow the player movement like one of those shells games, they actually got Pau Gasol. 

(Here’s the shell game: Caron Butler was part of the Shaq trade. He then went to Washington Wizards for Kwame Brown. Brown then went to Memphis to get Gasol. Like a magic trick and connect the dots, Butler turned into Gasol just a few years later.)

But I digress. Back to GM 101. 

You can see Minnesota with Kevin Garnett for another proper play for trading a superstar. Sure, you don’t get equal value for Garnett when he’s dealt to the Celtics (actually another steal), but Minnesota got something. 

So, the key right now is for Denver to make a move and make it now. I’m talking tomorrow or the latest by the All-Star game. 

That’s because if we wake up on Monday after the big game and Melo is still in Denver, you won’t need an alarm clock for work that day.

You’ll be able to wake on Monday morning to the sound of all the GMs in the league laughing at how they are going to bend over Denver in the days to come. 

Denver must make a deal and move Melo. Now.

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