Carmelo Anthony’s days with the New York Knicks came to a halt in the summer of 2017. A reunion may not be as far fetched as you think.
Former Syracuse basketball star, Carmelo Anthony, has done a lot of good for the New York Knicks. In 2012, he helped the struggling franchise to their first playoff game win in over a decade. The following year, he nearly won league MVP, finishing in third place behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but snagging away the lone vote from a unanimous James win, according to basketball-reference.com. Melo dazzled in the playoffs that year too, averaging close to 29 points per game, while leading New York to their first playoff series win since 2000.
And then Phil Jackson came to town.
The ‘Zen Master’ who was best known for guiding Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships, before coaching Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to five more, didn’t exactly hit it off in the ‘Big Apple’. Jackson, who became the Knicks president 2014, quickly fired head coach Mike Woodson, and it all went downhill from there. In three short seasons, the Knicks went from an Eastern Conference contender to bottom of The Association, all while it was apparent that Jackson and Anthony were never quite on the same page to begin with.
Melo was eventually traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2017, three months after the Knicks and Jackson parted ways. The separation left a sour taste in some people’s mouths, and many speculated that Anthony was driven out of town.
However, one thing that goes often unmentioned is how Carmelo Anthony has never ruled out a return to Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks. As a lifetime Syracuse Orange, Melo has shown his loyalty by once saying on the Dan Patrick Show, “I didn’t want to leave Syracuse.”
Even more intriguing, Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks may not have as bad as a relationship as believed. According to SNY, there was a strong possibility that Melo almost had a change to reunite with the Knicks last offseason. The story goes like this:
"Before free agency last summer, high-ranking members of the organization had interest in signing Carmelo Anthony in free agency.The Anthony signing was contingent on the Knicks completing their other free-agency plan in 2019: signing two max stars. When New York missed on those stars, the idea of signing Anthony lost significant momentum.Anthony’s agent at that time was Rose, who is currently the Knicks president."
Clearly, the idea of Carmelo Anthony once again in a New York Knickerbockers uniform was still a strong possibility as recent as last season.
However, one more small detail makes me wonder if there could still be something in the works. Leon Rose, Carmelo Anthony’s longtime agent, assumed the position of Knicks President just this past season, as the team parted ways with many of its basketball business gurus. To add even more intrigue to this, a separate report from Marc Berman of the New York Post, said that multiple NBA executives believe that Rose could try to bring Anthony back to the Knicks.
To dive even deeper into this rumor, Rose is also the current agent of NBA Superstar – and close friend of Carmelo Anthony – Chris Paul. Anthony and Paul had a short stint as teammates in Houston, before the Rockets decided to part ways with Melo after just ten games, eventually ending in Melo having to wait over a whole calendar year before being picked up by the Portland Trail Blazers in November 2019.
Paul himself has also been linked to rumors of possibly being traded to New York. With the Knicks potentially looking to find veteran players to help build a foundation for the future, Paul’s name has often come up in discussion. The future Hall of Fame point guard was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2019 offseason. While that has worked better than most expected, Paul is seemingly in a different place during his career than to be on a young Thunder team.
One possible move – for both the Thunder, Knicks, and Chris Paul, could be a trade sending CP3 to New York. As reported by Ian Begley, this is one possible trade scenario:
"Knicks trade Reggie Bullock and Kevin Knox for Paul.In this scenario, we’re assuming again that the cap is $115 million, and the Knicks absorb Paul into cap space. To do that, they’d have to renounce/waive the players above and decline Portis’ team option. They’d also again have to keep Bullock beyond his June 28 guarantee date.This trade would leave the Knicks with Smith Jr., Randle, Barrett, Ntilikina, Trier, Robinson, Dotson, Paul and Brazdeikis on the roster. If you include salaries for their two first-round picks (roughly $8 million in combined salary for 2020-21), they would have roughly $108.5 million in committed salary and $6.5 million in cap space. They would also have the room mid-level exception (projected at $5 million) and veteran’s minimum exceptions (which are 1-2 year deals at the minimum salary)."
Of course, that’s a lot of thinking there, and who knows if it will happen, but the connection between Knicks President Leon Rose, as the agent of Chris Paul, seems to make at least some sense. Add in the fact that Rose also manages Paul’s friend an fellow future HOFer, Carmelo Anthony, and you’ve got a really interesting scenario where the former Syracuse basketball player could be headed back to New York, for a third time, and second with the Knicks.
When it really gets down to it, it’s important to note that these are all just rumors and scenarios. The only people that really know where they want to go are Anthony and Paul themselves. Sure, Rose will have a lot to do with it, as will other team executives, but Melo and CP3 have earned the ability to sort of choose where they will end up at this point in their careers.
Currently, the NBA hasn’t updated any plans on the 2019-20 season, which has been suspended since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So for now, Paul will try to keep his Thunder in a playoff position, while Anthony and the Trail Blazers have work to do to rise above in the playoff picture.
But when the season does end, keep an eye on Anthony and Paul. No one knows where they will go, but the New York Knicks does seem like a fun destination, and some of the dominos have already fallen in place.