Sunday evening into Monday there seemed to be more leaks around the Carmelo Anthony-to-the-Nets trade talks than there were on the Titanic.
That, and pressure from the Nets (and others) to make it happen fast, gave the impression the entire trade was just about to go down.
Turns out, not so much. In the past 24 hours Denver has worked to shore up those leaks, slow the pace of the talks down, and is still insisting that Al Harrington and his contract be part of any trade — which is the current stumbling block.
Denver was aggressive in making the talks more private, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo.Before resuming trade talks for Carmelo Anthony(notes) on Monday, the Denver Nuggets delivered a stern warning to the New Jersey Nets: Unless the public nature of these trade discussions becomes private, be warned that we will send Anthony to the New York Knicks….
Would the Nuggets do such a thing out of spite? Would they take a lesser package out of vengeance? No one could be sure, but it sure delivered one more element of drama and intrigue to these trade talks.
It worked, the two sides pulled back and even agents who have players being discussed could get no information on where things stood at times Monday. But some things were clear.
For one, the Nuggets have succeeded in slowing the pace of the discussions again, meaning Anthony’s suggestion that the trade might not happen this week seems much more likely. There is no real pressure on the Denver front office to do this now. One thing that could bring pressure soon? That the Nuggets have lost three straight and they could unravel because the rumors.
The basics of the deal remain the same. It is a complex, 15-player, three-team trade that would send Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton to New Jersey; bring Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, Anthony Morrow, some other players and a couple first-round picks to Denver; and Troy Murphy and Johan Petro to Detroit along with picks.
Denver wants more out of the deal and is working hard to ship out Harrington and his oversized contract. He has four years, $28 million left on his deal (the last two years are not fully guaranteed; he can be bought out, so in reality it is two years, $20 million). That’s still more than anyone wants to take on, leaving the trade at an impasse.
Denver can wait. It feels no pressure so long as the Nets deal is on the table. And they have proven more than willing to do drag this out.
So sit back and get comfortable, we could be at this a while.
[vodpod id=Video.5313031&w=425&h=350&fv=]