As reported by Chris Broussard with ESPN last night, the Denver Nuggets have traded Carmelo Anthony, the face of their franchise and superstar, to the New York Knicks. Unless you have been under a rock, you know the Nuggets have been in discussions all season long to trade Carmelo Anthony. It has had many twists and turns, but Carmelo finally got his wish to play for the Knicks. Not only that, he gets his extra 65 million dollar extension which will kick in at the end of next year. Both aspects were important to Anthony as he wanted the lights of Madison Square Garden but also wanted to have the certainty of his money with the collective bargaining agreement changing at the end of the season.
The official trade is:
New York gets Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, Corey Brewer
Denver gets Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks 2014 pick, a couple 2nd round picks, and cash
Minnesota gets Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph
So how does Carmelo help the Knicks as they traded four of the five starters on their team to get Melo? The starting lineup will now be Billups, Landry Fields, Melo, Amare, and Ronnie Turiaf. They will be able to score with that lineup but I am not sure how much defense will be played especially with Mike D’Antoni as head coach. He is a phenomenal offensive minded coach and will use his creativity to get the most out of this group. The Knicks will take time to gel and mold, and when the playoffs come, they will be a much tougher out. I don’t know if they can get any higher than the 6th seed but I could be wrong. Anytime you can get a superstar, you have to make it happen because they don’t grow on trees. They can find role players but a nucleus of Stoudemire-Anthony-Billups-Fields is pretty solid.
As for the Nuggets, you never win when you trade a star player but they did very well for themselves and maximized as much as they could from the situation. The team got under the luxury tax line and took on no bad contracts in the deal. They also have a young core with Ty Lawson, Aaron Afflalo, Chadler, and Gallinari to build with. I don’t know what other deals they have in store as they are remaking their roster to make it younger and to rebuild. I don’t know if the Nuggets will be able to stay in the playoff hunt with the current team but they are still a solid bunch.
As for the T’Wolves, they got an expiring contract in Eddy Curry and a project in Randolph. They needed frontcourt help and got some, but I am not sure how much it will materialize.
Carmelo wanted to go to New York to play with a contender… and at least he got to go to New York. The Knicks had to give up everyone who was helping Stoudemire and are left with the Knicks of the rest of the 2000's. New York probably could have waited until the offseason or even lowered their offer because otherwise Denver wasn't going to get anything for him. They got a very good player but they emptied the roster of talent to do it.
The timing of this was huge, Im sure everybody, but the Nuggets would have wished the CBA wasn't going to get in the way. They are the real winners here.
it came down to Melo wanting his money more than playing in New York. Thus the trade before the deadline.