NBA Trade Rumors: Carmelo Anthony Headed To Cavs? Melo Adds Cleveland To List Of NBA Trade Teams

The NBA trade rumors involving Carmelo Anthony have picked up steam on Friday evening with speculation that he could join the Cleveland Cavaliers. Within the past several days, rumors have surfaced that Anthony was expanding his list of potential teams he’d be willing to get traded to. The Portland Trail Blazers were a team that was being mentioned after weeks of reports saying that Carmelo would only want to join the Houston Rockets. Now it’s being reported that Melo has added Cleveland to that list of possible destinations for a trade after the Knicks asked for other teams beyond Houston.

The latest speculation about Carmelo Anthony’s newest team comes from ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski who tweeted about it on Friday evening. Wojnarowski simply stated that Melo had “expanded the list” of his acceptable teams for a trade and was “including the Cleveland Cavaliers” on that list. The move came after the Cavs told Anthony and his reps they couldn’t work out a deal with Houston and needed other options. Anthony and his reps included two more teams. The Cavs were the only new team originally mentioned by Wojnarowski in the ESPN report posted, and if true, it makes perfect sense that Anthony would be willing to join them.

Carmelo Anthony has a “no trade clause” in his current contract with the Knicks which he’ll need to waive for any deal to happen. Joining the Cleveland Cavaliers would put Carmelo on the same roster with his friend LeBron James in Cleveland in pursuit of an NBA Championship, the goal of most longtime players in the league who have yet to reach that accomplishment. At age 33, Melo’s skills are said to be on the decline as an All-Star in the league, but he still offers great value to rosters in the NBA.

As mentioned, the two teams most linked to the Carmelo Anthony situation over the past weeks and months of trade rumors were the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. Houston appeared to be a clear frontrunner for a deal and once the team added Chris Paul to the roster that already featured NBA MVP finalist James Harden, it seemed like a deal would be on the way. However, the Knicks seemed unable to find another team to help them make a deal work out in everyone’s favor.

The Portland Trail Blazers were also being mentioned quite a bit, but more so because their two All-Star players seemed interested in having Carmelo Anthony join the squad. SLAM reported that Damian Lillard had spoken to Carmelo and he “didn’t seem opposed to playing” with the team when they talked. However, it was also mentioned that Lillard didn’t see any sort of trade in sight.

The news of Carmelo Anthony possibly joining the Cleveland Cavaliers isn’t a surprise even if the team is just now being mentioned in the trade rumors again. For a while, there had been speculation that the Cavs might deal their All-Star forward Kevin Love to the New York Knicks or another team in order to bring Carmelo Anthony over. However, newer reports seemed to indicate that the team felt Kevin Love was a better fit for their roster as LeBron James and company continued their pursuit of an NBA Championship.

The Cavaliers are embarking on an interesting journey this coming season as LeBron James will be without fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving who was traded to the Boston Celtics. The Cavs acquired several players in the deal including Jae Crowder and All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas. In addition, the team added guard Derrick Rose from the Knicks as an offseason free agency signing. Will Carmelo Anthony be the next to join the roster, and if so, which other team will get involved to make the deal happen?

Update (9/23/17): ESPN‘s Ian Begley has also tweeted that the Oklahoma City Thunder are a team that Carmelo Anthony has included on his list for acceptable trade partners with the New York Knicks.

1 p.m. ET The Knicks have agreed to trade Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a 2018 NBA Draft pick, per ESPN sources.

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