Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov made the stunning announcement Wednesday that the team has pulled out of the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes, potentially opening up room for the Knicks to land the Denver Nuggets star.
“I’m not happy with the way … this deal has gone until now,” Prokhorov said. “It has taken too long. It has been played out in public and it certainly has taken a toll on the players and I believe that it has cost us several games. I think management did a great job, but there comes a time when the price is simply too expensive. I’m instructing our team to walk away from the deal.
“And the meeting that was our management was supposed to have in Denver with Carmelo tomorrow is hereby canceled.”
Prokhorov said the team called off a proposed face-to-face with Anthony, who has never indicated he would sign a three-year, $65 million extension to play for them.
The Nets had offered six players, including Devin Harris and Derrick Favors, and at least two first-round picks to the Nuggets in exchange for Anthony and would have received Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton.
“I never met with Carmelo and I never spoke to him,” Prokhorov said. “Maybe he sent me an e-mail, but I don’t have a computer. Maybe the carrier pigeon got lost.”
The stunning development potentially opens up the chance for the Brooklyn-born Anthony to land with the Knicks, who have long appeared to be his first choice.
The Knicks currently lack the pieces to entice Denver to deal Anthony, but as reported Monday by SNY.tv, Knicks president Donnie Walsh said Sunday he was confident he could get “more than one [draft] pick.”
One of those would presumably come from dealing Anthony Randolph, whose agent, Bill Duffy, met Friday with Walsh at MSG.
The Knicks could offer some combination of Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Landry Fields and draft picks for Anthony.
“I can’t surmise what’s going to happen and what isn’t going to happen,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said before Wednesday’s game at Houston. “It really doesn’t affect us. I’m looking forward to tonight’s game. I know it’s very easy for me to say that, but in reality that’s what the truth is.”
If Anthony doesn’t sign an extension under the current collective bargaining agreement, he stands to lose millions if a new CBA is approved.
He could simply wait to become a free agent this summer and then join the Knicks as is, or sign with another team.
