Carmelo Anthony is not going to drag this process out. We should all thank him for that.
Anthony has told the Knicks he is opting out of the last year of his contract and is going to test free agency, but he can’t officially talk to those other teams until July 1. Once that happens he has a plan, reports Marc Spears at Yahoo Sports.New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony hopes to make a decision on where he will play next season in the second week of July after taking several free-agent visits, a source told Yahoo Sports….
A source said there is currently no frontrunner for Anthony’s services, and he is expected to meet with the Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. There was no mention of the Miami Heat. Anthony hopes to visit the aforementioned teams in their respective cities during the opening days of free agency. At the moment, no other teams are expected to get a meeting.
Anthony cannot officially sign a deal until July 10.
The Knicks were long the front runners, Anthony has told PBT and others that he wants to stay with the Knicks but he wants to see a plan where they can start to win, fast. Phil Jackson has made some smart moves the lat 48 hours, but converting the Knicks roster into something that can win is going to take a couple years, not a couple weeks. Anthony loves New York but may not be that patient. Jackson said he wants Anthony to take a pay cut to stay, but if it took a max offer to keep him New York would make it.
If Anthony leaves NYC, Chicago is considered the front runner — he can step right in as a four (if the Bulls amnesty Carlos Boozer as expected) and with Joakim Noah and if Derrick Rose can stay healthy, they are contenders (particularly if they don’t have to jettison Taj Gibson to get Anthony more money). Still Anthony would leave well in excess of $40 million on the table from the Knicks max offer to go to the Windy City (likely more like $50 million, depending on the final numbers). That’s a lot f scratch.
Dallas’ pitch got more interesting with the addition of Tyson Chandler (a good friend of Anthony’s) to go with Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis. Houston can offer a near max and has James Harden and Dwight Howard, allowing them to form a “big three” in the West. The two questions for Anthony with both these teams are: Do I really want to go to the Western Conference, where even if I’m part of a powerhouse team the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers and a lot of good depth looms? Do I want to move to Texas and a city where I have no ties?
The Lakers are a long shot, save that they have a big brand and Kobe Bryant.
If Anthony has learned anything from watching how LeBron James and recently Dwight Howard handled free agency, he needs to take the meetings quickly, keep them as quiet as he can, them make a firm decision relatively quickly. It’s a big decision with a lot of moving parts well outside of basketball, it’s got to be a family decision.
But Anthony seems committed to not dragging the process out. That’s good for all of us.