“There comes a time when the price is simply too expensive,” he said during a news conference in New Jersey this afternoon.
“I’m instructing our team to walk away from the deal.”
Prokhorov said his meeting with Anthony, which was set for Thursday, is canceled."It’s been too long and too expensive,” he said. When asked if that was a final decision, he responded, “for sure.”
This is probably the right move for the Nets going forward. The team’s season is all but over, adding Carmelo would have severely hampered the team’s ability to build a quality roster going forward, Anthony almost certainly would not have made the team a title contender on his own, and he could have completely crippled the team if he refused to sign an extension with them. The Nets would have had a superstar to sell to their fans when they do move to Brooklyn, but that’s very similar to the reasoning Isiah Thomas used to make the infamous Stephon Marbury trade.
As for Carmelo, things are going to get really interesting now. One would think that the Knicks have much more leverage than they did a few hours ago, and could get Carmelo without having to completely sell the farm.
And don’t forget about the Bulls, who are back in the hunt as of today and could see Anthony as the piece that would make them legit title contenders. Anthony could wait for his contract to expire and choose his team next summer, but the looming threat of a new CBA would probably mean doing so would cost him millions of dollars. With less than a month to go until the trade deadline, the ‘Melo drama is only going to get more intriguing.