Carmelo Anthony has never wavered — he is not waiving his no-trade clause. He wants to stay and win with the Knicks. He didn’t just re-sign there for the money, he signed there because this is where he wanted to be.
That sentiment continues in an interview with Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports— but with an “as of now” qualifier. Anthony admits he has the power but doesn’t want to use it.“I guess I have all the power. If I really wanted to get out of this situation I could have waived that no-trade clause. But I’ve stuck with it and I’m still sticking with it. I don’t know, maybe my loyalty has come back to bite me in the ass. As of right now, I am sticking to it.”
Anthony said in there he wants this team to build quickly toward a title, that he knows he needs to win sooner rather than later.
Which leads to speculation that if the Knicks don’t have an impressive offseason — a real possibility — he might be willing to waive that no-trade clause. From Ian Begley of ESPN.
Here’s another reason to think Anthony might change his mind: Money. Anthony has a 15 percent trade kicker, but that kicker can’t take him above the max salary (set by his number of years in the league). So far, that hasn’t been much of a bump because Anthony just signed a near-max extension. But with the salary cap about to spike, Anthony would get the full 15 percent of his salary bump if traded.
If the Knicks want to move on from Anthony and can find a destination he likes — where he can contend and play with friends — then Jackson might be able to sell him on the idea. And the extra cash. Then both sides could move on.
But if I were going to bet, those handful of teams are not going to give up core pieces for Anthony, and next season he will be back in a Knicks uniform at Madison Square Garden.
