The Carmelo Anthony trade rumors have reached an all-time high. There is only one thing that’s certain – he will either go to the Houston Rockets or Cleveland Cavaliers. Those two teams are still clearly the favorites, but which one will it be? It was most recently reported that Anthony is confident that he’ll end up in Houston with James Harden and Chris Paul, and the New York Knicks are apparently working hard to get a deal done with the Rockets, involving a third team.
Carmelo Anthony wants to be in Cleveland?
However, new reports have surfaced that Anthony wants to be a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to an NBA GM.
Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio spoke to the unnamed General Manager via text, and the GM said, “I think (Cleveland is) where he wants to be most, because it’s a guaranteed trip to the NBA Finals. Houston and New York aren’t.”
With that being said, do the Cavaliers have enough to acquire Anthony’s services? Kevin Love may have to be packaged in any deal, but the GM said that the Cavaliers don’t want to part ways with the All-Star forward because they would need him as well if they want to compete against the Golden State Warriors. Essentially, it means that the Cavaliers would have to construct a trade including Tristan Thompson and a couple others packaged with draft picks.
Rockets or Cavaliers: Which team has the better assets?
It would be tough for Cleveland to land Anthony since they lack assets, while the Rockets have plenty of good players to offer. Nonetheless, both teams would probably need the help of a third team to get a deal done. For the Rockets, the only issue is that the Knicks are reluctant to take Ryan Anderson, which has complicated things.
For Cleveland, they simply don’t have any young pieces to offer.
Where will Carmelo Anthony eventually end up?
At this point, Anthony’s future is unclear. The rumors keep going back and forth, with no exact timetable in terms of when an Anthony trade would be completed and where he will go. The Knicks front office is still actively working on trade, but with Anthony’s no-trade clause, it has limited them.
As I’ve mentioned before, Carmelo Anthony probably won’t get traded for another few weeks. This is going to be a long process, one that requires a lot of patience from the parties involved. There is a ton of confidence that a deal will get done before the start of the season, so the best thing we can do is sit and wait.
