Carmelo Anthony‘s chances of reuniting with one of his Banana Boat buddies Chris Paul or Dwyane Wade appear to be looking good.
Anthony and his reps met at the NBA Summer League with reps of both the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat after the Oklahoma City Thunder granted permission, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Anthony shares an agent, Leon Rose of CAA, with Wade and Udonis Haslem of the Heat.
Anthony’s meeting with the Rockets included head coach Mike D’Antoni, according to Woj.
With Carmelo Anthony on the move, does recent public discussions between OKC GM Sam Presti and Heat’s Pat Riley mean anything to you? pic.twitter.com/kyKaQ1U2Ev
— LasnerSport (@LasnerSport) July 10, 2018
Houston now has an opening at small forward after Trevor Ariza signed with the Phoenix Suns and Luc Mbah a Moute with the L.A. Clippers, although Anthony’s history with D’Antoni is not all rosy dating to their time together with the Knicks.
D’Antoni went 121-167 as Knicks coach, leaving in 2012 about a year after the team acquired Anthony.
In an ESPN article, D’Antoni wrote that “Anthony said the team needed to choose between him and D’Antoni.”
The Rockets meeting included coach Mike D’Antoni, who had a turbulent relationship with Anthony as New York Knicks coach. D’Antoni made it clear to Anthony that he thinks the circumstances together would be far different in Houston, and welcomed the idea of coaching Anthony again, league sources said.
The Thunder are working on trade scenarios where Anthony, 34, would be moved as an expiring contract and be waived, becoming a free agent once his $27.9 million 2017-18 salary clears waivers. Oklahoma City needs Anthony’s permission to waive his no-trade clause, which he has done to facilitate his exit, league sources said.
Anthony’s contract makes trade possibilities less likely than simply executing the NBA’s waive and stretch provision on his contract, which would save the Thunder over $100 million. That would spread his salary cap hit equally at $9.3 million over three years.
As for the Heat, Wojnarowski reports, “Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has been a strong advocate of signing Anthony, who could play a major role for the Heat at power forward.”
Thunder are working on trade scenarios where Anthony, 34, would be moved as an expiring contract and be waived, becoming a free agent once his $28M clears waivers. OKC needs the Anthony’s permission to waive no-trade clause, which he has done to facilitate his exit, sources said. https://t.co/1p6hoBvTIs
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2018
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