Former Teammates Believe Carmelo Anthony Wants To Stay With Knicks

The New York Knicks are a mess. NBA legend Phil Jackson has been unable to right the ship in New York in a prominent front office role as team president after having incredible success as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Now Jackson wants to trade his superstar Carmelo Anthony, and it seems as though the veteran doesn’t want to go anywhere.

Although it appears that the writing is on the wall regarding Jackson’s intent to trade Anthony this summer, a few of Anthony’s former teammates believe the veteran forward wants to stay put in New York. Current Cleveland Cavaliers players Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith said the following about Carmelo, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:

“Sometimes you feel like it’s just unfinished business, and I feel like that’s what it is with Melo,” said Cavs guard Iman Shumpert. “He don’t want to leave on that note.”

“He does want to stay in New York. He made the effort to get to New York,” Smith said. “Granted, it hasn’t gone as well as he hoped it would. But I’m sure that’s where he wants to be.”

Anthony holds all the cards when it comes to his immediate future. The 10-time All-Star has a no-trade clause in his contract meaning he can say no to any trade proposals Jackson may come up with during the NBA offseason. Anthony must be willing to waive the no-trade clause to make any deal come to fruition for the Knicks.

Obviously, this makes things increasingly difficult for Jackson and company. There won’t be many teams in the league willing to take on Anthony’s contract which is set to pay him $26.2 million next season and $27.9 the year after.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been mentioned as a possibility along with the Cleveland Cavaliers. One of these two teams could engage the Knicks in trade talks this summer if they feel they can put a trade package together that makes sense.