Carmelo Anthony is one of the best players in the NBA, and has been for a number of years, but his career will always be marked by his playoff futility. Despite reaching the postseason each of the first 10 years of his pro career, Melo has only reached a Conference Finals once–in 2009 with Denver–and has won just one playoff series since being traded to the New York Knicks at the 2011 trading deadline. Furthermore, the Knicks haven’t been back to the playoffs since the 2012-2013 season, and over the last couple seasons, they’ve been hindered by a revolving head coaching door, injuries to key players, and quite frankly, a lack of serviceable personnel, on both the sideline and the court.
Still, with all this knowledge at his fingertips, Carmelo Anthony turned down the opportunity to play for a win-now Chicago Bulls team during the pivotal free agency period of 2014, and decided to stay with the New York Knicks, signing a $129 million deal to remain in his hometown. However, that optimism seems to be waning as the Knicks spiral towards yet another playoff-less season that has seen another mid-season coaching change and a consistently inconsistent supporting cast. Though he opted not to waive his no-trade clause for a potential Knicks-Celtics deal at this year’s deadline, according to a brief conversation with Yahoo Sports! reporter Marc J. Spears, Melo may be rethinking his future as a Knick.
Q: How much power do you have with [your] no-trade clause?
Anthony: “I guess I have all the power. If I really wanted to get out of this situation I could have waived that no-trade clause. But I’ve stuck with it and I’m still sticking with it. I don’t know, maybe my loyalty has come back to bite me in the ass. As of right now, I am sticking to it.”
Q: What is keeping you loyal to the Knicks?
Anthony: “I wanted to be here. This is a place I wanted to be. This is a place where I envisioned myself, winning in New York.”
Past the “maybe my loyalty has come back to bite me in the ass” bit, Melo used the past tense–“wanted,” “envisioned”–to describe the status of his will to stay in New York.
Though playoffs aren’t in the picture, it will still be quite the interesting summer in NY.
