Carmelo Anthony Rumors: Melo On His Way Out Of Houston? Rockets Forward May Have Limited Options

After a frustrating, one-year stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder, signs seemed to point to better days ahead for Carmelo Anthony when he signed with the Houston Rockets in August.

But the 10-time All-Star appears to be on his way out of Houston, as well. The Rockets, who led the NBA with 65 wins a season ago, have just a 5-7 record and earned a win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday with Anthony out with an “illness.”

ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Anthony’s representatives spent Monday gathering information from NBA front offices about potential landing spots and that the Rockets were close to waiving him.

Wojnarowski also reported over the weekend that it is not out of the question for Anthony to stay with Houston. The 2012-13 NBA scoring champion is reportedly talking to the Rockets about how he could potentially stick around and contribute to the team for the rest of the season.

The question now is what’s next for the 34-year-old? Anthony is considered a liability on defense and is not a proficient outside shooter. However, he could be a serviceable bench player given his scoring abilities and his experience. He averaged 16.2 points per game with the Thunder in 2017-18 and averaged 13.4 points over 10 games with the Rockets.

Wojnarowski pointed out that “Anthony could have his veteran's minimum $2.4 million contract claimed on waivers, or he could clear waivers and become a free agent.”

According to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, “it’s a longshot” that Anthony will end up with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Some may speculate that Anthony could play with his good friend LeBron James. However, Smith shot down those rumors, as well.

Smith cited a league executive that said if James wanted Anthony to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, he would have gone. Smith also pointed that Anthony didn’t return calls from the Los Angeles Lakers this summer about joining the team as a bench player.

The Anthony saga has exemplified a difficult season for a Rockets team that finished as the top seed in the Western Conference a year ago. Houston lost valuable contributors in Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in the offseason, as well as well-regarded defensive assistant Jeff Bzdelik. After being elite on both sides of the ball last year, the Rockets are just 23rd in offensive efficiency and 20th in defensive efficiency this year.

Bzdelik confirmed in early November he would come out of his brief retirement to return as the Rockets' defensive coordinator.