Finally.
According to the New York Daily News‘ Frank Isola, Carmelo Anthony is expected to announce that he’s returning to the New York Knicks on Thursday:
Carmelo Anthony is ready to chase a championship with Phil Jackson in New York.
After agonizing over a decision for the past week, Anthony is expected to announce on Thursday that he re-signing with the Knicks, the Daily News has learned. Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, claims that “no decision” has been reached but a friend who was with Anthony on Wednesday in Los Angeles told the Daily News that Anthony “wants to get it done in New York.”
“He will have something for everybody on Thursday,” said the friend who was with Anthony before Anthony’s scheduled workout with Kevin Durant and Kevin Love in Bel Air. “He is really torn because this is the biggest decision of his career. But he wants to get it done in New York. He told me he believes in Phil.”
Again, finally.
Anthony is the free-agency domino we needed to fall. All this ancillary stuff meant little. He is one of the reasons you’re scouring the Internet for rumors. He is why you’re constantly checking Twitter, why your phone never leaves your side.
He, if you’re like me, is why you haven’t slept properly since the NBA draft. Now it’s all over.
Finally.
If this comes as a surprise to you, I got nothing. This was always going to be the outcome. The Knicks can and will give him five years and $129 million as opposed to the four-year, $96 million contract the Los Angeles Lakers offered and the Houston Rockets may or may not have been prepared to offer.
Feel free to say it’s about the money. It most definitely is. But other options were also underwhelming. There is no team Melo could join that would incite “Shit, he’s going to win a title next year” talk. And since he couldn’t have that, he’s going with the next best thing: Phil Jackson.
This will be the first time Melo plays in an actual system, and it will be interesting to see how he fares. His progression as an off-ball scorer these last few years intimates he’ll do well. Like, really well.
But yeah, money. This was also about money. And family. And money. And loyalty. And money. And convenience. And money.
And good for Anthony. The owners stuck it to the players in the most recent collective bargaining agreement. Talks of pay cuts are nice, but we didn’t see the owners sacrifice more money in order to increase the salary cap and/or pay players more.
Like he tends to do when he’s not the first one to break a story, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski adds another layer to this gripping conclusion:
Within Anthony's circle, belief's been this, sources tell Y: Get NY's $129M now, figure out destination later. You can always get a trade.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 9, 2014
Tough for me to believe that’s Melo’s end game, though it’s not out of the question.
At least now Jackson and the Knicks can move forward knowing they’ll have Anthony for five years no matter what if they want him.
Here’s to progress.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
