Everybody had to know Carmelo Anthony trade rumors weren’t going anywhere.
The Knicks are a hot mess and haven’t improved with Derrick Rose in town, turning the attention toward Anthony himself.
To his credit, Anthony has talked about the rumors and Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote that Anthony is “unwilling to green-light a trade out of New York, even with how bad it’s turned.”
Anthony is, though, willing to meet with the team to talk this out, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:
Melo has asked to have a conversation with Knicks brass twice since the critical Charley Rosen column. Word is that convo should happen soon
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 17, 2017
New York Knicks prez Phil Jackson plans to meet with disgruntled star forward Carmelo Anthony in the next few days, sources told ESPN.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 17, 2017
What comes out of this meeting is hard to say.
Anthony, in the third year of a five-year commitment, has been adamant he wants to remain with the team and help it build into a contender. That simply hasn’t happened, and the latest batch of trade rumors have been serious enough for the star small forward to seek a meeting with Phil Jackson and others.
It’s hard to imagine the two sides do anything short of talk this out and keep forging ahead together. New York would be silly get rid of its most popular player, not to mention its best. Anthony doesn’t want to start over elsewhere, especially after the front office showed a serious commitment to improvement this past offseason.
Still, it is worth keeping a close eye on the developments. When it comes to the NBA, Anthony getting shipped out of New York isn’t exactly the craziest thing in the world.
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