Carmelo Anthony reportedly wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause for the Celtics (not that the Knicks and Boston necessarily agreed to terms, anyway).
Frank Isola and Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:Carmelo Anthony denied that he blocked a potential blockbuster deal to the Boston Celtics last week, telling the Daily News that Knicks management never approached him about waiving his no-trade clause.
“No,” Anthony said late Wednesday in Indianapolis. “Heck no.”
It’s possible that the initial report is wrong or Melo is lying here, but there’s plenty of room for both accounts to be accurate.
Perhaps, the Celtics asked him about the no-trade clause. Melo just denied that the Knicks approached him.
Or maybe Melo issued a blanket refusal to accept any trades, which New York conveyed to Boston. Given the financial incentive to delay a trade to next season or the year after, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if that were the case.