WHAT’S THE DEAL?
Cousins fiasco should make Knicks rethink moving Melo
By now you’ve seen what the Sacramento Kings brought back for a younger, cheaper and more productive superstar than Carmelo Anthony. It’s the kind of underwhelming return that has to make Knicks fans waking up in cold sweats this morning. But hopefully, it gives Phil Jackson another degree of pause in his efforts to deal the 10-time All-Star forward by Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
For all of his baggage and volatility, DeMarcus Cousins’ pawning to New Orleans late Sunday night — for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, former Knicks guard Langston Galloway and two 2017 draft picks (including a top-3-protected first-rounder), with serviceable forward Omri Casspi also going to the Pelicans — sent shockwaves throughout the NBA shortly after the All-Star Game.
The 26-year-old Cousins is averaging 27.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists as one of the top centers in the league this season. He now gets to play alongside fellow former Kentucky one-and-done star big man Anthony Davis, the MVP of Sunday’s layup line exhibition in his home city.
The Kings, meanwhile, have hit the reset button yet again, after GM Vlade Divac and team ownership apparently decided Cousins — who leads the NBA with 17 technical fouls, AND who got into an ugly verbal spat with a reporter earlier this season — was no longer worth the trouble and/or the maxed $209 million extension this summer that was being discussed for when his relatively reasonable contract expires in 2018.
Closer to home, this has been precisely the fear for Knicks fans concerning the recent peddling of Anthony, whose full notrade clause allows him to dictate that the Knicks only can move him to a desired location.
“To say I don’t think about it, I’d be wrong, I’d be lying to you,” Anthony said on Saturday in New Orleans. “I think about it. Think about it a lot. I think about what’s best for me, what’s best for the organization and what’s out there. I think about that stuff.”
The circumstances aren’t entirely the same, of course, but Jackson can’t deal Carmelo for such a middling return as the Kings received for Cousins. And especially not for another team’s bad contracts or spare parts, as has been reported in the case of the Clippers — widely regarded as Anthony’s No. 1 choice of potential landings spots. A package centered around Austin Rivers and once-a-Knick-always-a-Knick (unless you’re named Oakley) Jamal Crawford does nothing for the Knicks’ future.
Also, joining his buddy LeBron in Cleveland certainly sounds like nothing more than a pipe dream at this point.
As the Daily News’ Frank Isola noted over the weekend, the Celtics likely can put together the most attractive package — with a winning team, a passel of first-round picks (that 2013 blockbuster trade with the Nets truly is the gift that keeps on giving) and expiring contracts available to deal.
It’s fine if the determination has been made that the Knicks aren’t going anywhere in the short or long-term with Anthony as their centerpiece player, or that they’d be better off spreading around his near-max salary while building around Kristaps Porzingis, but the Zen Master can’t just give away this asset, either.
James Dolan and the Knicks gave Denver everything it wanted, and then some, to obtain Carmelo in 2011. The opposite cannot be true regarding his departure.