All-Star nod robs Melo of rest, cash
NEW ORLEANS — Carmelo Anthony, the reluctant All-Star, would rather have been in Cuba and Puerto Rico after booking a nonrefundable vacation. It got to the point that he turned off his phone in New Orleans, rather than look at the pictures sent by those still vacationing in his absence. “I was a little jealous,” he said. Still, the Knicks star fulfilled his duty to the league, to Commissioner Adam Silver, and became the oldest All-Star in the 2017 game. He conceded that being here “is definitely therapy for me.”
“This is a break for me to come here and not have to deal with my situation or our organization,” Anthony said.
He also landed at the center of a media frenzy, with trade speculation swarming, and in time to pay homage to LeBron James.
“It’s incredible. Everybody wants to be LeBron, everybody wants to be on whatever team he is on,” Anthony said. “It’s been like that for a while. It’s going to continue to be like that until they actually beat him.”
To be clear, Anthony was talking in general terms, not about himself necessarily. He also said that he and LeBron haven’t discussed joining sides since both were on Team USA. But it was relevant given the trade discussions between Knicks and the Cavs, with Anthony wielding the hammer in the form of a notrade clause.
The Daily News reported that James has been encouraging the Cavs to trade for Anthony, even if it means dealing Kevin Love. At this point, the Cavs have not budged on their stance of not dealing Love.
The 32-year-old Anthony, a late arrival in New Orleans as an injury replacement for Love, remains conflicted about his future, about wanting to stick it out in New York or bend to Phil Jackson. He had hoped to use the break to talk it over with his family, but then Silver beckoned and the process was put on hold.
The trade deadline is Thursday, the same day the Knicks play at Cleveland.
“It’s a conversation that can’t happen overnight,” Anthony said. “It’s multiple conversations, multiple aspects that play a role in that conversation. So I was just kind of looking forward to just kind of getting away from the game and kind exhale a little bit and evaluate my situation.”
Asked what would be his ideal scenario for the rest of this season, Anthony responded, “I don’t know, to be honest with you. It would be up in the air. I honestly don’t know. It’s something I’m having a problem thinking about. To say that I don’t think about it, I’d be wrong, I’d be lying to you. I think about it. I think about it a lot. I think about kind of what’s best for me, kind of what’s best for the organization, what’s out there. I do think about it. I do think about that stuff.”
Anthony has been all over the place with his public message about accepting a trade. Mostly, though, he’s tried to keep his options open, while insiders say they expect he remains with the Knicks at least until the summer. He was also named to his eighth straight All-Star team, which became the source of some aggravation.
“Honestly it was more like a downer because I had to cancel my trip (to Puerto Rico and Cuba) and there’s no refund. So I can’t get my refund back,” Anthony said. “After a while, once I talked to family and everybody kind of understood it and told to make sure I get down here, enjoy the moment. Once you do it for so many years you still got to have fun.”
Anthony was also greeted in New Orleans by a swell of support by current and former players, most notably Draymond Green — who said Saturday that he was “pissed off” by the way the Knicks treated Anthony — and Tracy McGrady — who unloaded on Phil Jackson for how the Knicks prez has handled the situation.
“It feels good to know that your peers, guys who actually go through the same thing that you go through, understand what you go through because being a professional athlete they’re in this thing, they understand how it goes,” Anthony said. “So to get to have that support it means more to me than a lot of other things that’s out there. To have your peers talk highly about you, it’s a respect factor. “