L.A. Clippers Trade Rumors: Offer Made To New York Knicks For Carmelo Anthony
L.A. Clippers trade rumors have the team officially making an offer to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. This resumes the trade chatter that suggested the Clippers wanted to add Anthony as a fourth star on the current roster. If confirmed overtures indicating that coach Doc Rivers would love to have Anthony on the court with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. But is Knicks team president Phil Jackson even interested?
A report by the Sporting News states that in order to make the salaries in a deal work, the Clippers offered to send guard Jamal Crawford to New York. Crawford makes about $13.3 million this season and then has salaries of about $14.3 million and $14.5 million in the next two NBA seasons. He is a very expensive role player for the Clippers who actually spent time with the Knicks previously.
Jamal Crawford was with the Knicks for nearly five NBA seasons, averaging 17.6 points a game before getting traded to the Golden State Warriors. He has been with the Los Angeles Clippers for the last five years, averaging 15.6 points over 338 games. Crawford has been an important cog off the bench, which led to the team rewarding him with a nice contract extension.
An NBA source told the Sporting News that the Knicks aren’t interested in acquiring Crawford, as Jackson isn’t looking to take on any long-term contracts. This isn’t surprising, as the Knicks would need to head into a rebuilding phase if Anthony gets dealt before the NBA trade deadline on February 23. This would make any entrenched salaries worse for the front office and make life harder as the team tries to head in a new direction.
All is not lost in these L.A. Clippers trade rumors, though, as they could work at bringing in a third or fourth team in order to help facilitate a deal. There are quite a few NBA teams looking to add draft picks of swap veterans for younger assets as the trade deadline approaches. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, one such deal just took place between the Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks.
In the latest NBA standings, the L.A. Clippers are tied for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference with the Utah Jazz. Getting one of the top four seeds is important because it will give that team home court advantage in the first-round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs. If the team can find a way to move up in the standings and catch the Houston Rockets, it would help them to avoid a first-round matchup with the Golden State Warriors. Entering play on Friday (Feb. 3), the Clippers are three-and-a-half games behind Houston.
It would appear that all the rumors surrounding Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks are going to continue until a deal is either made or the trade deadline hits on February 23. That won’t put an end to the chatter either, as it would just postpone talks until the NBA offseason when Knicks president Phil Jackson can get back to fielding offers. At that point, though, Anthony may take a hit in his value, as he would only have one more team-controlled season on his contract.
Teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and even the Phoenix Suns keep getting mentioned as possible destinations for Anthony, but no team appears willing to give up the key asset necessary to convince Jackson to pull the trigger. Would several first-round NBA draft picks from the Clippers do the trick? Probably not. But if Doc Rivers is intent on turning these latest L.A. Clippers trade rumors into a reality, he will be working the phones to get other teams involved in a potential blockbuster deal that lands Carmelo Anthony at Staples Center.
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