The Celtics recently expressed interest in Carmelo Anthony during the NBA trade deadline, but they went straight to his people to gauge interest… not the Knicks.
The NBA trade deadline came and went on February 18th, and the New York Knicks could not maneuver any moves. Although, recently there has been reports of the Boston Celtics inquiring about superstar Carmelo Anthony‘s availability per Ian Begley of ESPN.
"Prior to the trade deadline, the Boston Celtics expressed interest in obtaining Anthony via a trade with the Knicks, according to league sources with knowledge of the situation.It is unclear if there were any formal discussions between New York and Boston and if those discussions ever reached an advanced stage. But Boston was informed that Anthony had no desire to leave the Knicks via trade to play for the Celtics, sources say."
According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, the Celtics did not contact the Knicks themselves about Anthony. Instead, Boston contacted Melo’s people – trying to gauge if he would be interested in waiving his no-trade clause to come to the Celtics.
"Two NBA sources told The Post that interest was not expressed to Knicks officials and no talks took place between the teams.Sources indicated the Celtics asked advisers of Carmelo Anthony if the Knicks star still was entrenched in not waiving his no-trade clause."
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The biggest rumor surrounding the Knicks around the NBA trade deadline was a “very preliminary” three-team trade discussion. The trade centered around Anthony being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Boston Celtics’ draft picks and possibly former-Knick Timofey Mozgov. Anthony quickly put the rumors to bed by saying “I’m not going nowhere“.
Now with the new rumors of Boston contacting the team, or his advisers, he again immediately put out the fire. Anthony took to social media to shut all the possible rumors down, saying “Ignore the noise. #Focused #StayMe7o”.
Ignore the noise. #Focused #StayMe7o pic.twitter.com/7Dljxx81P6
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) February 25, 2016
This sounds like much of the sediments that Anthony has expressed in the past, where he basically said that winning in New York is his only priority.
"“Doing it in New York is better than doing it any place in the world,”“One in New York is better than multiple somewhere else. That was the reason I wanted to come to New York. That’s the reason I’m in New York. … I don’t want to run. I could have run somewhere when I was a free agent. I came back for a reason. I don’t feel like I got to keep expressing that part of why I came back to New York.”"
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While it probably would be true if Anthony were to help the Knicks get an NBA Championship, that he would be beloved forever. Cities that are not spoiled with ton of Championship banners hanging from the rafters, those cities truly cherish the players that do help accomplish that feat. It also sounds a lot like the argument that some made that one Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Championship for LeBron James would be equivalent to multiple Miami Heat rings.
Although at this point… you really have to wonder if it would be better for both the Knicks and Anthony, if they parted ways. Especially if the Cleveland trade rumors were real, the Cavaliers are contending for an NBA Championship RIGHT NOW!
Even if the Celtics rumors are true, the Boston situation is way better than the Knicks. Beantown is stacked with great role players, they are literally one superstar away from contending for a title. Boston have great wing defenders in Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, and Marcus Smart and is just waiting for a scoring machine like Anthony to put them over the top. Boston is currently the third-seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Knicks are currently third-last in the Conference…
Recently Anthony was asked about possibly waiving his no-trade clause during the All-Star break, and he said no, not yet anyways…
"“Not yet. Not yet. Not yet,”“I’m pretty sure I’ll have that conversation with myself, my family, my team [agents]. That’s not a conversation right now.”"
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Maybe Anthony should reconsider that. Maybe it should be time to think about his overall legacy in the NBA. It must be really bitter taste to have been on a perennial Playoff team, to then come to New York and constantly lose… Hopefully Anthony will have that conversation with his family very soon, possibly by the NBA Draft in June.