The ongoing saga of the New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony and a franchise that is building in a direction divergent from its star player's aspirations continues, as New York's star continues to express no wiggle room regarding his no-trade clause.
At a tech summit Wednesday, Anthony was speaking on behalf his production company (which has a part investment in the latest "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" film) and was asked about where he might be in the future by moderator Yahoo Finance: Anthony assured he would be with the Knicks next season in an interview with Yahoo! Finance on Wednesday afternoon. He has a no-trade clause in his contract and would have to waive it to leave the Knicks. Anthony has three years remaining on his contract.
"You'll see me here," Anthony said. "For the Knicks, absolutely."
Source: Carmelo Anthony on Knicks future: 'You'll see me here' | Newsday.
The Knicks star has continued to resist the idea of moving on despite the Knicks being in a transition era. Anthony has expressed dissatisfaction with his having not been included in the coaching search for the Knicks, and hasn't been wholeheartedly in support of the triangle offense that Phil jackson loves, either.
This is fine in the short-term. Anthony can run this back, it's his choice after all. He's not necessarily holding up the Knicks in any regard, he's not standing in the way of some youth movement; Jackson's not interested in that kind of a rebuild anyway. There's no real damage being done by Anthony sticking around. It's worse for Melo to resist overtures that could set him up with a chance to win a title, but it he wants his legacy to built on the backs of dollar bills in New York, that's his call.
The market for Melo could be dramatically shifting anyway. There were talks before the deadline about a potential swap of Kevin Love for Anthony. With the Cavs having ripped through the Eastern Conference like it's swiss cheese, there's a good chance that the Cavaliers may no longer want to distance themselves from Love.
So for now, Anthony will remain with New York. This could change at any point if the right deal comes along or if a conversation goes awry between Anthony and Jackson. It has all the makings of continued drama. Neither is patently unhappy with each other; it's not an explosive situation, it's more like two people stuck in an elevator with someone they're not close to.
For the foreseeable future though, Anthony will remain with the Knicks, and we'll wait to see how his plays out in the months and year to come.
