Welcome to MeloDrama 2.0.

After Carmelo Anthony told reporters Wednesday night that he would "consider" waiving his no-trade clause if the Knicks told him they wanted to move him, Thursday exploded with trade rumors. New York has reportedly already reached out to the Cavaliers, Celtics and Clippers to gauge a deal. Now comes the other side of it.

First, the Los Angeles Times reports that the Clippers won't surrender a member of their Big 3 (Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan or Blake Griffin) to acquire Anthony.

Now comes word from the New York Daily News that the Clippers might not have to in order to acquire the All-Star:

The Knicks and Clippers are discussing a deal for Carmelo Anthony that does not include Chris Paul, Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan going to New York, the Daily News has learned.

The Knicks, according to a source, are open to trading Anthony to Los Angeles even if they don't get one of the Clippers' Big 3 in return.

In fact, the Knicks are prohibited from acquiring Blake Griffin due to a complicated rule in the collective bargaining agreement. The rule states that a team cannot have two Designated Rookie Max extensions on your roster acquired via a trade at any time. Derrick Rose falls under that category.

In order to do so the Clippers would have to trade approximately $27 million in salary to fit Anthony under their cap.

A Clippers deal for Anthony would likely include one or even two players from the group of Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick or Austin Rivers, who is the son of Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.

Source: Knicks discuss trading Carmelo to Clippers but not for big name - N.Y. Daily News.

So the Clippers could be on the verge of creating a Big 4 in Los Angeles, and man, what a blockbuster it would be. It adds another premier scorer, an All-Star, another weapon to the team, and with Chris Paul managing his friend Anthony, Melo might just adapt and play the right way as a spot-up weapon they can turn to for balance.

However ...

1. Any deal that can be constructed almost has to include J.J. Redick. They would have to deal Rivers' son Austin, along with Crawford and Wes Johnson to make salaries work for Melo alone otherwise, and the Knicks are almost certainly going to want more back than that. And losing Redick is a huge deal. He spaces the floor and gives the Clippers a constant weapon running off screens that prevents his defender from helping down on the Big 3. Yes, Anthony replaces his offensive threat, but he doesn't move or play without the ball. Redick is also unquestionably a much better defender than Anthony. Giving up Redick for Anthony, given how Anthony plays, might be a downgrade for the Clippers, even if Anthony is unquestionably a more valuable player in a vacuum than Redick.

2. Consider the money impact. Paul and Griffin are both free agents after this season and will demand a max. The Clippers can use Bird rights to go over the cap and re-sign them both if they add Anthony, but that's going to effectively cap them out. They'll be trying to scrap pieces together around the Big 4, when two of their players would be well over 30. You remember the 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets? Yeah, that's what we're talking about here.

3. There is only so much ball to go around. Griffin has to get touches. Paul will have touches constantly. Jordan needs a share to keep him happy. If they made this deal, someone would get grumpy. That would be bad eventually. There's a really good chance this super-team combusts.

4. Does this move really put them closer to beating the Warriors? Does this change anything about their trajectory? The Clippers are already elite offensively when healthy. Does adding more offense make them suddenly more dangerous?

5. This deal isn't great for the Knicks, either. It doesn't get them A) A young prospect; B) A quality pick; or C) A valuable set of replacement veterans. There's little about this deal that makes sense for New York, so you can expect the Knicks to be eager to do it. Because they're the Knicks.

We'll see where this goes but one thing is for certain: It's officially Melo trade rumor season in New York, no matter what Anthony told Phil Jackson a week ago in their closed-door meeting.