Melo hits Thunder road
Anthony sent off to Atlanta, but only for a little while
Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin are back together again. If only for a moment.
Anthony will be looking for a new team, his fourth in 10 months, after the Oklahoma City Thunder traded the veteran forward to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday. The Hawks, who last week acquired Lin from Brooklyn, intend to release Anthony, thus allowing him to become a free agent.
The 34-year-old is expected to sign with Houston, although Miami and the Lakers are also under consideration. The Rockets, who nearly acquired Anthony last summer, have a starting forward job available after losing Trevor Ariza to the Phoenix Suns in free agency.
A move to Houston would reunite Anthony with Mike D'Antoni, who stepped down as Knicks coach in 2012 partly due to his relationship with Anthony. The move came at the height of Lin-sanity, when the point guard's stunning play relegated Anthony to a lesser role in the offense. Of course, if Anthony lands in Houston he will be the third wheel on a team that includes James Harden and Chris Paul. Anthony struggled in his one and only season with the Thunder, who acquired him last September from the Knicks. His days in OKC were numbered the moment he elected to opt into the final year of his contract at $27 million. The three-team, four-player deal is cost effective for the Thunder, whose luxury tax bill will drop from $150 million to $89 million by trading Anthony.
The Thunder have been working with Anthony and his agent, Leon Rose, for the last two weeks to negotiate a buyout or find a willing trade partner. The rebuilding Hawks, eager to move point guard Dennis Schroder, became that team. Atlanta acquired Trae Young in a draftday trade and then added Lin, who is recovering from knee surgery.
Schroder recently announced that he was hoping to be traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Instead, he will serve as Russell Westbrook's backup.
The Thunder also receive a 2022 protected first-round pick as well as Mike Muscala, who was immediately sent to Philadelphia for Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Schroder has three years at $15.5 million annually left on his deal. The 24-year-old point guard has started 161 games over his five NBA seasons. Anthony averaged a career-low 16.2 points over 78 games with the Thunder, who were eliminated by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs.