The NBA trade rumors surrounding Carmelo Anthony are alive again, with reports that the Houston Rockets are back on the trail of the All-Star forward and could be pushing forward on a deal.
Throughout the month of July, the New York Knicks were in heavy talks with the Houston Rockets on a deal that would send Anthony out west. Those talks fell apart in the latter part of the month, but there have been reports that the teams kept the line open and now could be moving closer to a deal once again.
As Bleacher Report noted, Anthony is still very interested in going to Houston and playing alongside Chris Paul and James Harden. Anthony’s exit from New York seems all but assured given his deteriorated relationship with management, but the destination is the only thing still in question.
The Sporting News noted that Carmelo Anthony could be a good fit in Houston with Harden and Paul. The report noted that Anthony could fill the role he has played on the U.S. Men’s Basketball team, where he is not the same shoot-first scorer as he had been with the Knicks.
“He is not a volume-shooting wing for Team USA — he is a pick-and-pop big man, a small-ball power forward all the way,” the report noted. “He sets screens. He moves the ball. He fires up 3s rather than chewing up shot-clock time pounding the ball into the floor.”
On a team with James Harden and Chris Paul, that could be an important role and would help make the Rockets the top contender to knock off the Golden State Warriors. There are reports that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder had both shown interest, but the Rockets remain Anthony’s primary objective, reports claim.
The Thunder are making a push to acquire Carmelo Anthony. https://t.co/gszeI2cwbP
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 25, 2017
Carmelo Anthony’s “primary objective” is to get traded to Rockets, per @FisolaNYDN https://t.co/SyQ4SHh5AQ pic.twitter.com/hZ3Pt1dJl9
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 25, 2017
There would still be some bumps for Anthony to overcome in Houston, the report added. For one, he and Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t exactly have a successful time together in New York, with Anthony struggling to fit into D’Antoni’s ball movement system. However, the reports claiming that Anthony is very interested in going to Houston show that he has no lingering tension with his former coach.
There are also some other details to work out about the trade, and the initial rumors indicated that the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks needed a third team in the deal to bring it to completion. While the reports indicate that Carmelo Anthony could still end up in Houston, there is no word on exactly what shape the deal will take or what other teams might be at the table.
[Featured Image by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images]
