Cleveland Cavaliers Trade For Carmelo Anthony? Cavs Exploring Deal With Knicks
A Cleveland Cavaliers trade for Carmelo Anthony is again getting worked on behind the scenes. While it would be a longshot for the Cavs to acquire Anthony from the New York Knicks before the NBA trade deadline, it appears that the team is once again exploring the possibilities. This news has come out as Anthony, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving prepared to lead the Eastern Conference at the 2017 NBA All-Star Game.
A report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer is drawing a lot of attention, renewing the chatter of a Cleveland Cavaliers trade that would land Carmelo Anthony with a new team. The Cavs are working hard to add another playmaker to the roster, but the team could also use any depth a trade could bring before the February 23 deadline. Kevin Love has been lost to injury, putting more pressure on LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to put games in the win column. Their jobs would certainly get easier if Anthony became a part of the roster.
It’s no secret that Anthony holds a no-trade clause, meaning he can veto any deal that New York Knicks team president Phil Jackson might come up with. The catch is that other teams and NBA analysts feel that there could be some desperation coming from the franchise as the trade deadline gets closer. At that point, it might be possible for another team to acquire Anthony for lesser players or draft picks than it would have earlier in the season. Is that a scenario where Anthony could team up with James, Love, and Irving for a run at the 2017 NBA Playoffs?
This isn’t the only situation that has come up in the latest Cleveland Cavaliers trade rumors. The team also has a trade exception that it acquired in dealing Anderson Varejao to the Portland Trail Blazers. That exception is worth $4.4 million in salary for any players that come to the Cavs. It would help offset any deal that the front office comes up with, meaning fewer players would have to be sent out in order to complete a deal.
That trade exception would make it much easier for the front office in Cleveland to absorb the salary of Anthony, which amounts to about $24.6 million this season and about $26.3 million next year. Sending out fewer players would also be more conducive to completing a deal, as there are a lot of players on the roster that the Cavs would not want to part with. The easiest player to assume would be heading back to the New York Knicks is Iman Shumpert, who actually began his NBA career at Madison Square Garden.
Just because these new Cleveland Cavaliers trade rumors have the franchise exploring a deal for Carmelo Anthony does not guarantee that anything is going to take place before the February 23 NBA trade deadline. In fact, there is every reason to believe that the front office will be unable to come to terms on a deal that Knicks president Phil Jackson would like to make. Jackson is in a position where he has to “win” a trade that involves Anthony or risk embarrassing himself in the process. Would he actually let the Cavs get Anthony?
With less than a week before the trade deadline hits, these latest NBA rumors are certainly going to give the analysts a lot to talk about. The prevailing thought from most analysts is that Anthony will simply use his no-trade clause on any deal so that he can keep from having to uproot his family during the regular season. But if a deal surfaced that would allow him to join his friend LeBron James and compete for an NBA title, why wouldn’t he want to make that move? Stay tuned, because these new Cleveland Cavaliers trade rumors are going to cause a storm on social media.
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