The New York Knicks introduced Scott Perry as the team's new general manager in a press conference on Monday. With the move, then-GM Steve Mills was promoted to team president, filling the void left by the departure of Phil Jackson.
During the introductory conference, Mills was blunt about the team's intentions regarding a possible buyout of Carmelo Anthony's contract, responding with a simple, "No." But he's still not ruling out a possible trade to ship Anthony out of town and didn't explicitly say if the 10-time All Star is in the team's long-term plans.
"If there is a situation that works for Carmelo and works for us, then we will look at a trade," Mills said, adding that he "may or may not" be part of the Knicks' plan moving forward.
Steve Mills says Knicks future "may be with Carmelo or it may be without Carmelo."
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) July 17, 2017
Mills' comments come just days after the team was in talks to send the aging star to Houston to join Chris Paul and James Harden on the Rockets. But talks between the two franchises have reportedly been put on hold and both parties are stepping back from the situation to regroup.
Anthony has two years and approximately $54 million remaining on his contract with the Knicks, and while it's quite clear the relationship between he and the Knicks has been fractured after multiple attempts by Jackson to get him to waive his no-trade clause throughout the year have failed, the franchise is clearly not willing to part with him unless they can get some type of compensation in return.
A trade to the Cavaliers or Rockets would be the only scenarios Anthony would reportedly be willing to waive his no-trade clause for, but it seems neither team has been willing to put together a package that would satisfy Knicks brass to this point. The Blazers have also been trying to push to get Melo to waive his no-trade clause.
