NBA Trade News: Steve Mills Says No to Buyout for Carmelo Anthony; Houston Transfer Turns Vague?
Recently, newly-installed New York Knicks president Steve Mills made it clear that they would not buy out Carmelo Anthony's remaining contract. Now that they suspended ongoing talks with the Houston Rockets, is Anthony's transfer turning vague?
The Knicks are recently going through a major reorganization. Now that Phil Jackson is out and new general manager Scott Perry is in, the New York front office suddenly called to a halt the negotiations that would have traded Anthony to the Rockets.
In a recent press conference that was held on Monday with Perry, Mills stated: "We made a decision as we were getting closer to hiring Scott that I felt it was important for us to slow down, regroup as it related to the trade scenarios of Carmelo."
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However, the team president did not specify when they intended to continue the negotiations with the Rockets.
Anthony's contract extends to the next two years and translates to an amount of as much as $54 million. Since Knicks will not consider a buyout, his only chance to get away from the team that has been vocally trying to give him away for months now is through a trade agreement.
Reports claimed that Anthony had already agreed to waive the no-trade clause in his contract, especially when an opportunity to join the Rockets was presented to him.
To make it worse, the team's long-term plans apparently do not involve Anthony anymore, according to NY Daily News. Since the New York Knicks want to invest more on younger players, Anthony does not fit the bill.
In the same press conference, Mills also claimed: "We've been in contact with Carmelo's representatives. We've been obviously in contact with other teams. ... But we also feel that Carmelo could easily be a part of our team next year, and we have to understand how we're going to play and what the expectations (are) of how we're going to play and we're going to move forward. So it may be with Carmelo or it may be without Carmelo."
That could be a hint that the Knicks might soon decide to abandon the negotiations with the Rockets for good. As for Anthony, league sources claimed that he was still very much looking forward to leaving New York and transferring to Houston.
