If you are an athlete who has been honored with the title: elite, then the day you become a free agent is better than Christmas. Those with superior skill in free agency expect to be wined and dined by suiting teams. It is not a matter of whether or not a team will sign them, but which team it will be. If you happen to be Carmelo Anthony the day you become a free agent is coming up in the near future.
While Carmelo Anthony is a valuable asset in attracting talented free agents to join the ranks of the New York Knicks, the team has to first focus on making sure the all-star will still be there. Anthony has already hinted that he may opt out of the final year of his contract and see what kind of bites of interest he can get from the rest of the league. Something that he should have no problem doing.
Phil Jackson, who recently joined the Knicks front office, hopes that Anthony will put his own monetary ambitions aside in hopes of luring big name free agents in 2015. LeBron James, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rajon Rondo will all have the option to test out free agencies that year, and the Knicks need Anthony to attract at least one of them.
In a public statement Jackson said “The reality of how to do that involves Carmelo’s compliance. It may not be a $20 million player, $16 million player, $12 million player; it may be a $10 million ballplayer. But that’s the way things work out now. There’s a possibility we can do that.” If Anthony does opt to re-sign, it will leave the Knicks with about $20 million in cap room. Plenty of space to secure another elite player.
For the mean time though, it seems that Anthony is concentrating on playing basketball. At this point all this speculation is just that, speculation. Carmelo had previously made statements saying he was excited about the prospect of luring talent to NYC. In a public statement made earlier this season Anthony said “I think people would love to come to play in New York, and when that time comes, we’ll be working on that… People that talk about what’s going on with me in the offseason, this and that, I should be getting people to come here. I am. I’m trying.”
It doesn’t really seem that either side knows how Anthony’s free agency will work out. Carmelo will have to decide what’s more important, money or winning. The 30-year old’s only championship came in 2003, when Syracuse won the NCAA tournament. Though the man is immensely talented, he can’t do it alone. In the end though, only time will tell where Anthony will end up.
Photo: Twitter/Carmelo Anthony
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