Carmelo Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks. Finally.
A saga that started this summer when Anthony and his representatives told Denver officials he would opt out of his contract and leave as a free agent if not traded — and that he would only sign an extension with the Knicks — has ended with Anthony getting what he wanted, according to the The Denver Post. That trade has now been confirmed by all the parties, including Anthony’s agent Leon Rose.
This is a three team deal with Minnesota a part of it. Denver gets Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks 2014 first-round draft pick, the Warriors’ 2012 second-round pick, the Warriors’ 2013 second-round pick and $3 million in cash. Anthony will go to New York, along with Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman, as well as Corey Brewer from the Timberwolves. Minnesota will get Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry’s expiring contract from the Knicks.
Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri spoke to Yahoo’s Marc Spears:
“You lost a great player. A deal is a deal. But we lost a great player in Carmelo. We are excited about the young guys we’re getting”
Technically the league office was closed Monday so the deal can not be sent in and finalized until Tuesday, but all the parts are in place. Throughout the evening reports continued to come in that this got closer and closer.
Carmelo Anthony did not take part in Nuggets practice Monday (although he was set to be on Conan O’Brien’s show Monday night). Chauncey Billups did practice but refused to speak to media when leaving the facility.
The Nuggets have had talks about flipping some of those Knicks assets — specifically Felton and Gallinari — for picks. There was talk of those two going to the Nets in a three-team deal that includes Devin Harris and the Mavericks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo. However, ESPN’s Chris Broussard shot that down Monday night, but Broussard’s source also said they planned to keep Nene and J.R. Smith. Which makes me wonder if that source is not just trying to give the Nuggets some leverage for negotiations.
The Knicks balked at including this many players in any deal to get Anthony throughout the summer and into the season, with team president Donnie Walsh thinking if he could not get a trade done he would sign Anthony as a free agent. Knicks owner James Dolan came in and upped the offer — with advice from Isiah Thomas — and that seemed to make the trade come together for the Knicks.
But the Knicks now have traded away four guys who started — basically everyone not named Amar’e Stoudemire — and how they will fill in around their superstars to compete with Boston and Miami (and Chicago) remains to be seen. It will be a challenge under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, whatever that looks like.
Knicks fans don’t care, ticket brokers in New York have reported a rush and are increasing the prices they charge for Knicks games by 30 percent at least, according to CNBC’s Darren Rovell.
