Carmelo Anthony Trade Rumors: Is New York Close To Making A Deal?

Will the New York Knicks trade Carmelo Anthony? It’s a question that NBA fans have been asking for months, and with training camp right around the corner, the answer is very much unclear.

Phil Jackson made it known he was trying to trade Anthony before he was ousted as the team’s president in June. Anthony wants to play with Chris Paul and James Harden with the Houston Rockets, and the Knicks have reportedly been working on getting a deal done.

Still, the Knicks don’t appear to be any closer to making a trade. Team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry told reporters Friday that they expect the All-Star forward to be with the team during Monday’s media day and Tuesday when training camp begins.

“Look, Carmelo's going to be back here,” Perry said. “Carmelo has always been a professional. That's one thing I've always respected about him. I think he can set a good example for the young players. He's been a 10-time All-Star. If he's back here with the New York Knicks, we expect him to be the professional he's always exemplified throughout his career and move forward with him.”

Anthony’s no-trade clause remains the No.1 impediment to making a trade happen. He’s only willing to accept a deal to Houston, where he could potentially compete for a championship. The problem is the Rockets haven’t made the Knicks an offer that they deem suitable.

In order to get a deal done, the Rockets have to trade Ryan Anderson and his three-year, $61 million contract. Looking to rebuild, the Knicks don’t want Anderson, especially considering his contract is even longer than Anthony’s.

Houston is aware both that Anthony doesn’t want to play anywhere else and that New York is motivated to trade him. They’ve got little incentive to sweeten the deal.

If that remains the case, New York might just try to make a trade during the season. It’s possible that they’ll just ride out one last season with Anthony before he opts out of his contract next summer.

“We've just been in constant contact with he and his representatives and I won't get into (the) weeds of the details of how far or how close we were to any type of deal,” Perry said. “At the end of the day, what we set out and what we said (in July was), if there was something there that made sense both for him and the Knicks' organization, then we would strongly consider it. Obviously, we sit here today and that did not happen as of yet.”

This isn’t at all what Anthony had envisioned. Anthony’s wife, La La, said two weeks ago that the family thought he’d be traded by now. Earlier this week, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News reported that Anthony was “cautiously optimistic” a trade would happen before the end of the weekend.

If Anthony really wants no part of being in New York, there’s a way to make that happen. Portland Trail Blazers’ guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum have reportedly tried to recruit Anthony, and they can offer New York a more desirable package than Houston.

But Anthony knows he doesn’t make the Blazers a title contender. Portland would still sit behind the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Rockets in the Western Conference. They probably wouldn’t even be as good as the Oklahoma City Thunder, who now have both Russell Westbrook and Paul George.

It’s a three-way staring contest among Anthony, New York and Houston, and someone is going to have to blink in order to get a trade done.