The New York Knicks have spent a bulk of the NBA offseason acting like an actual team, which, naturally, has brought the future of Carmelo Anthony into question.
Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant won’t help the Knicks win now. Robin Lopez and Kyle O’Quinn are not Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge. Phil Jackson actually gave a contract to Derrick Williams. How long is a 31-year-old coming off major knee surgery supposed to wait before demanding a trade? The Knicks’ championship window isn’t open and, presumably, won’t be for another few years. A divorce is inevitable, so why not streamline it now?
Those are musings that have floated around since the draft, when the Knicks eschewed immediate impact for big-picture upside, reportedly to the distaste of Melo. And though rumor after rumor has been squashed by another rumor, there’s a lingering sense of unease. The Knicks and Melo don’t appear to be a fit for one another. Melo needs to win now, and the Knicks are planning for later. No positively spun hearsay is going to change the facts.
Even Walt Clyde Frazier, an MSG TV analyst, has his doubts about this marriage, the same one that appeared tenuous last summer, when Melo chose to remain in New York and the Knicks chose to hand him near-max money. As Frazier told ESPN New York’s Ian Begley during a question-and-answer session:
Q: The Knicks drafted Kristaps Porzingis, a guy who is a couple years away from being able to help you win night in and night out. Then there’s Carmelo Anthony, who is 31 and here for another four years. How does he fit in because it seems like they are looking at a future that might not fit within his window?
A: I’m sure Melo wasn’t happy. His future is now. You know, he’s not getting younger. This is going to be a pivotal season for him to see really how he fits into the Knick plans and how this is going to go from here. Will he ask out, you know what I mean, if he sees that this is not happening? Because right now the Knicks, [it’s] going to be tough to make the playoffs. They are a few years away and Melo knows that his days are numbered, so stay tuned.
Trading Melo would be mutually beneficial to the Knicks and Melo himself in a perfect world. The team gets younger assets, draft picks and financial flexibility from an interested suitor, and Melo gets to play for a contender. But the situation isn’t that simple.
There’s little point in either party seeking to dissolve their relationship at the moment. As of now, they both still need each other.
Melo owns a no-trade clause, so the Knicks cannot just trade him anywhere. And any of the teams he would accept a trade to—Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers—don’t really have the assets to make a deal work.
If they do, as one could argue with the Lakers and Bulls, those teams are unlikely to fork anything major over in negotiations. Anthony first needs to prove he’s still healthy and able to function at a high level over the course of an entire season before any organization mortgages the farm for his arrival.
Any trade is also likely to yield a higher return next summer, not just because Melo will have a chance to pacify any concerns, but because most teams will want to see how free agency pans out first. Half the league will have $20-plus million in cap space, and each is more likely to make a bigger, more expensive trade once that market resolves itself.
The Knicks are no different in that regard. Before they go flipping their best player, a legitimate superstar, for spare parts, they’re better off seeing what they have in this coming season’s team, and whether or not they can parlay the roster, as currently constructed, into a playoff-level free-agency splash in 2016.
This time next year, if the Knicks haven’t improved drastically and are still nowhere near a return to prominence, you revisit trade scenarios, assuming there are any. For now, though, it’s in the best interests of everyone involved for Melo and the Knicks be on board with each other.
