New York media (and some Knicks fans) seem to be on pins and needles with the question of “will Carmelo Anthony opt out of the final year of his contract with the Knicks?”
Except, Anthony has said all along he intended to opt out of his contract. People around him said he wanted to be a free agent and get the “full Dwight Howard treatment” of being recruited. Phil Jackson has asked Anthony not to but said he expected the star forward to opt out of his contract. There has never been a question about that, the question was could the Knicks retain him?
The deadline for him to tell the Knicks he is opting out is Monday and he will do that, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
The Knicks can offer the most money to Anthony as a free agent — five years, $129 million, comported to four years, $95 million max from any other team — but if Anthony is serious about being on a contending team he is going to have to take less.
The Chicago Bulls are considered front runners to sign Anthony, if they amnesty Carlos Boozer and trade Mike Dunleavy Jr. for picks (no salary on the books), plus maybe do the same to Jimmy Butler, they can offer north of $17 million a year for four years. That’s less than the max but the cost of going to a contender in the East.
If Houston can jettison the contracts of Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin for no money back (and reportedly they have that lined up) they can add ‘Melo to a core of Dwight Howard and James Harden.
The Lakers (with halfhearted interest), the Mavericks and other teams may also try to get in the mix.
The Knicks also have been informed that Andrea Bargnani and Amare Stoudemire are opting in to their massive deals, as has been expected, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.
Not exactly a surprise, but I'm told Andrea Bargnani has indeed informed Knicks he's opting in for next season just like Amare Stoudemire
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 22, 2014