Nets News: Carmelo Anthony Chances Of Joining Brooklyn Hits Big Snag

The possibility of seeing Carmelo Anthony joining the Brooklyn Nets has grown dimmer. Reports have come out that the Nets are prioritizing players who have previously worked out with them to fill up the spot of Wilson Chandler.

Chandler was handed a 25-game suspension for PED use late last month. He will start serving it once the NBA regular season unfurls, NBA.com reported. With the 32-year-old unavailable, the names of Anthony, Luol Deng, and Dante Cunningham surfaced as potential replacements. Unfortunately, the Nets are reportedly leaning more on players who worked out with the team the past few weeks, said Shams Charania of The Athletic, citing sources.

This means that Lance Thomas and CJ Williams are players who can potentially get the nod. If true, this also means that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving's push to have the 35-year-old scoring forward in the fold may have gone for naught.

Until the Nets finally decide on who will fill the void left by Chandler, Anthony still holds a slim chance of possibly joining Brooklyn. Only time will tell. But the only thing sure now is that Anthony won't be around when the Nets open training camp next week.

Anthony remains in waiting despite league executives and players believing that the third overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft still belongs in the league. The only difference is that Melo will have to lower his expectations and be content with a bench role.

As mentioned in a previous post, Anthony had already said he is willing to take on any role with any NBA team who would be interested in his services. Ballclubs are wary of adding the 2013 NBA Scoring Champion for fear of disrupting their team's chemistry.

Anthony has been criticized for wanting to have the basketball in his hands most of the time. He last played for the Houston Rockets, a stint that did not end well. The Rockets had a bad start and some pinned the blame on Anthony. The accusation was deemed unfair with most believing that Anthony was used as a scapegoat for the Rockets poor start. If ever he does get the chance, this is one thing that Melo will be out to prove wrong.