Trying again
Rockets reopen Melo talks: reports
The Knicks’ trade talks for Carmelo Anthony are back on again — if they were ever off in the first place.
With Anthony still maintaining he only will be willing to go to Houston in a deal, the Knicks reportedly re-engaged the Rockets in trade talks Thursday. Houston has started talking to other teams with the intent of pulling off a three-team deal, according to ESPN.
Anthony has a no-trade clause, but has been adamant he won’t waive it unless he is sent to the Rockets to team with stars James Harden and Chris Paul. That process has dragged on and on, with ebbs and flows. After a brief break, it appears the sides are back to the process.
The Knicks are trying to jump-start a youth movement, and build — or rebuild — their team around Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and 19-year-old rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina, their first-round draft pick. Anthony is a 10-time All-Star, but he’s on the downswing of his career and could stunt that process.
Portland reportedly was interested in Anthony, with Trail Blazers guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum openly recruiting him. Anthony also had expressed an openness to join LeBron James in Cleveland. But after Kyrie Irving let it be known that he wanted to leave the Cavaliers, and questions about James’ future surfaced as well, Anthony appears to have crossed them off his short list.
Now Anthony and his camp only have eyes for the Rockets, where he would team with Harden and Paul in trying to challenge the defending NBA champion Warriors in the Western Conference.
But that seems unlikely to happen unless the Knicks and Rockets can bring a third team to the table to take on stretch-four Ryan Anderson, or more to the point, the three-years and $60 million left on his odious contract. The Nets had been a viable landing spot earlier in the summer, but used their cap space to take DeMarre Carroll and Allen Crabbe.