NBA Rumors: Carmelo Anthony to Houston a Possibility After This Season; Will Phil Jackson Trade the New York Star?
Will Carmelo Anthony land in Houston and play with Dwight Howard and James Harden? It is a possibility according to Marc Berman from the New York Post.
Stating an unnamed league source, Berman is reporting that the Houston Rockets will chase Carmelo Anthony in the summer of 2014.
“According to a league source, the Rockets will make a bid for Carmelo Anthony this summer, even though they probably won’t have cap space and would have to orchestrate a creative sign-and-trade,” writes Berman, who also added that Houston inquired about the star forward’s availability before the trade deadline last February.
Anthony has around $45 million left in his contract with New York. However, the final year (2014-2015) is has a player option for Melo which means that he can become an unrestricted free agent should he opt out of the last year of the deal.
A new dynamic has been formed with regards to the pending Anthony free agency with the arrival of Phil Jackson, who was hired as the general manager of the Knicks on Thursday.
New York’s “rebuilding process” will be dependent on Jackson. The Zen Master has little to work with however as the Knicks have already given up first round picks in future NBA drafts.
One of his options is to cut a sign-and-trade deal involving Anthony rather than get nothing off the star forward if indeed he opts out of the deal.
Potential Houston-New York Trade via ESPN Trade Machine:
J. Lin ($8.3M) + O. Asik ($8.3M) + D. Motiejunas ($1.4M) + O. Caspi ($947K) + C. Parsons ($945K) for C. Anthony ($21.4M)
Other potential destinations for the Anthony are the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls among other teams with probable cap space. Anthony has declared in many interviews that he wants to play at team that will contend for the NBA title.