Chris Paul Knicks: Carmelo Anthony Denies Courting Hornets Superstar Paul

The NBA lockout may be ending, but one player is still standing firm in his convictions. Chris Paul wants out of New Orleans, and he will only be satisfied with a trade to the New York Knicks. 

League sources spoke with Yahoo! Sports on Thursday. The breaking news featured a trade request made by Chris Paul to Hornets team officials. Paul is demanding that he not only be traded, but that he be sent packing to the New York Knicks. 

The obvious thought is that Paul wants to go ball with his best bud Carmelo Anthony. It's no secret that there is no shortage of teams that want Paul. The same report issues the Boston Celtics would like the Hornets star and would even like to sign him to a log-term deal. 

There is hardly a better-run franchise in the NBA. So why just the Knicks? According to Anthony, he hasn't said one iota to Paul about a buddy reunion in Knicks jerseys. 

To hear Anthony talk, he barely even knows who this Paul kid is. The Knicks star spoke to reporters at the team's training facility in Greenburgh, New York. ESPN reports:

"

I'm not involved in that process. No way. That's a subject, a topic that I don't want to touch. I don't want to deal with that.

We're very close friends. I'm pretty sure you guys saw him out here in New York, a lot. Due to the players meeting and stuff like that, we hung out. But we never had any conversations about him coming to New York. That's something that I would leave up to him and him and his family and I'm staying away from that. 

"

Riiiiight. I'm sure that in the hours they spent together, Anthony never once spoke to Paul about New York. The odd thing is, I don't see anything wrong with it if he did. 

It would be a travesty for Knicks fans if Melo didn't at least jokingly out an idea or two in Chris Paul's ear. Imagine the damage we could do together—that sort of thing. 

For the Hornets, they have some thinking and discussing to do. They have to decide if they really want to let Paul go for nothing in free agency. 

Paul has a great bargaining chip in that he doesn't have to sign an extension with any team—that would negate the Hornets shipping him out to the highest bidder. Whoever gets the guard will want assurances that he stay longer than one shortened season. 

It looks far more likely that we will get one of the most prolific scoring machines in the league as Chris Paul unites with Melo and Amare Stoudemire. I can hardly wait.