Carmelo Anthony might have waived his no-trade clause if only the Portland Trail Blazers worked out a trade with the New York Knicks for the All-Star forward. This was revealed by Blazers point guard Damian Lillard to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Lillard told Spears that Anthony “didn’t seem opposed” to a potential move to the Trail Blazers, who expressed interest in acquiring the All-Star forward.
However, the Trail Blazers didn’t pursue Anthony because the forward only prefers to waive his no-trade clause for the Houston Rockets. The Cleveland Cavaliers were also included in Anthony’s short list of preferred destinations as he wanted to play alongside LeBron James.
However, he later removed the Cavs from his list after Kyrie Irving’s trade demand went public. Anthony is focused on getting a trade to the Rockets as he wanted to play alongside close friend Chris Paul and last year’s MVP runner-up James Harden but the two sides never came close to a deal.
McCollum tried recruiting Anthony
Earlier, Lillard’s teammates CJ McCollum and Evan Turner tried to convince Anthony to waive his no-trade clause for the Blazers but the latter declined. Lillard said he spoke with Anthony during the offseason but he did not try to recruit him "I didn't want to press him. I ain't a big fan of doing all the extra recruiting and all that stuff,” said Lillard. It was reported that the Knicks tried to bring the Blazers as the third team as they worked a trade with the Houston Rockets for Anthony.
However, Adrian Wojnarowski said the Blazers didn’t want to help the Knicks cause because they also wanted to acquire Anthony.
Rockets-Knicks trade still in limbo
The Rockets tried a one-on-one trade involving Ryan Anderson but the Knicks rejected it because they didn’t want to be saddled with the remaining three years and $41 million from the power forward’s contract.
They tried to work a four-team trade but canceled it when they hired Scott Perry as their new manager. The Knicks front office wanted Perry to talk to Anthony and discuss the possibility of reintroducing him to the squad. However, Anthony is determined to get out of the Big Apple. Recently, the two sides tried to jump-start negotiations but there was no development until now.
The lack of movement has Anthony convinced that he might still be with the Knicks when training camp opens. He also reconnected with some young teammates, like Kristaps Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas.
