SUMMARY
- Carmelo Anthony expected to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers from the Denver Nuggets.
- The Nuggets wanted Melo in a different conference and sent him to the New York Knicks.
Carmelo Anthony shared some interesting information about his joining the New York Knicks. As veteran NBA fans should be aware, Anthony is a former NBA star and one of the players in LeBron James’ draft class. Although he is no longer in the NBA, Melo is considered by many to be an elite isolation-style player.
Over the years of his playing career, Anthony played for several teams in order to try to win an NBA championship. The majority of his prime was spent with the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks. Melo recently revealed more on the trade that sent him from the Nuggets to the Knicks.
Carmelo Anthony expected to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers
Although he was overshadowed by the greatness of LeBron James, Melo was an elite scorer in his own right and was considered one of the best stars in the league for several years. Since he never found much success with the Denver Nuggets and grew increasingly frustrated with the team, Anthony wanted to be traded away. He recently revealed that he was under the assumption that he would play for the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Their cards was no we want you to stay so I was like y’all playing with me now…Let’s make this happen. Here’s the teams, Chicago, the deal was done with the Lakers me and Nene for Lamar Odom and Bynum, that deal was done. But when they turned that deal down now it’s like oh ya’ll want to me out of the West send me to the East…Get me to New York the deal was never with New York…”
Melo reveals the Lakers had a deal done to land him in 2011
“The deal was done with the Lakers. Me and Nenê for Lamar Odom and Bynum.”
(Via @DwyaneWade / h/t @BasketballOnX )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 20, 2024
One must certainly wonder if Melo was impactful enough that the Nuggets feared trading him to any other team in the Western Conference. In order to find out the truth, fans should take a closer look at Carmelo Anthony’s time with the New York Knicks.
Melo’s career with the New York Knicks
Anthony was with the New York Knicks for 7 seasons and undoubtedly had some of his best career moments with the team. In those 7 seasons, Melo averaged 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 412 games. Despite being the best player on the Knicks, Carmelo never saw much success in the postseason.