NEW TEAM, ROLE
Carmelo Anthony joins Rockets
Carmelo Anthony has never been terribly receptive to the idea of becoming a backup player.
Until now.
Anthony signed a one-year, $2.4 million deal with the Houston Rockets, his fourth team in less than a year, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who wrote “the Rockets are expected to bring Anthony off the bench this season.” A longtime Nugget and then New York Knick, he was traded to Oklahoma City last September; from there he went to Atlanta in a trade and the Hawks waived him. Once he cleared waivers, he became a free agent. He also received $25.4 million of his original 2018-19 salary — minus a $2.4 million contract buyout with the Hawks, Wojnarowski reported.
In Houston, the upside is joining his friend Chris Paul and league MVP James Harden; the downside could be a reunion with coach Mike D’Antoni, who stepped down as Knicks coach partly because his relationship with Anthony was fraying in 2012.
Anthony was in Houston on Monday, undergoing a physical.
If true, the decision to come off the bench marks a big change in Anthony’s thinking. This spring, he said he was “not sacrificing no bench role. That’s out of the question.” He emphasized then that he has “so much left in the tank.”
And last offseason with the Thunder, he laughed off the idea of a bench role — quite literally.
But a guy can mellow. Even Melo.