Carmelo Anthony, thou art chivalrous.
Or something.
Much ado has been made about Anthony’s new contract with the New York Knicks. We know it’s going to be for five years. And we know it’s going to be worth nine figures. We just don’t know the exact amount. Not even now.
All we really know is that Anthony is going to take less, according to the New York Post‘s Marc Berman:
Phil Jackson said Carmelo Anthony took less than the maximum $129 million contract, and the Zen Master declared he needs his star player to maximize his teammates to win a championship.
…
Anthony took less to stay with the Knicks — estimated at $122 million to $123 million over five years. But it was still a lot more than what the cap space-challenged runner-up Bulls could offer — four years, $73 million.
Jackson confirmed The Post’s reports Anthony structured the deal to give the Knicks more cap space in 2015. It is believed he didn’t take his annual 7.5 percent raise in Year 2 and may have taken a tiny pay decrease. Under collective bargaining agreement rules, a player can receive as high as a 7.5 percent pay raise annually.
“He did exactly what we kind of asked him to do,’’ Jackson said. “Give us a break in the early part of the contract when we have some wiggle room — hopefully big enough wiggle room — next year when we can exploit it.’’
Cue the angry mob that says Anthony isn’t taking that much less.
And that angry mob is right.
But every little bit counts, every little bit is extra.
Every little bit is a little bit Anthony didn’t have to sacrifice.
Always remember that. I’m not trying to make Melo out to be some sort of a saint, but he took less. LeBron James wasn’t willing to take less. Chris Bosh was handed a maximum contract to stay with the Miami Heat. At a time when a ruthless collective bargaining agreement rules all, and players are essentially encouraged to take more since owners voted themselves into this cap-constraining situation, Anthony didn’t have to take less.
Except he did.
By foregoing his standard 7.5 percent raise next season, Anthony would save the Knicks a little under $2 million in 2015-16. He could also elect to take a 7.5 percent decrease, which would save the Knicks $3.4 million. That’s not an insubstantial amount. That’s essentially signing a Vince Carter, and Vince Carter isn’t no one.
This is all assuming Anthony took that initial pay decrease, which he probably didn’t. Conventional wisdom has him simply not taking a raise into 2015-16, making $22.4 million in each of the next two seasons before receiving standard, incremental raises.
Whatever it is Anthony and the Knicks have done, it won’t be enough to land another star next summer, so get that out of your head. But it is a start, another feather under their cap.
The Knicks are in position to create enough room for another superstar. Melo has only helped.
Not as much as some people thought or were hoping for, but he still took less.
Just like he said he would.
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.
