Carmelo Anthony: Knicks, Rockets Had Trade Agreement, But It Fell Through
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- For months, it appeared the Houston Rockets were the team most likely to acquire Carmelo Anthony's services. On Thursday, Anthony revealed just how close he was to becoming a Rocket.
Anthony, who was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week, told Sirius XM NBA Radio that the Knicks and Houston had reached a deal in July but it fell apart.
"For some reason, whatever happened behind the scenes, it didn't go through," Anthony said.
Right around that time, the Daily News had reported that a trade between the teams was "at the 2-yard line." But shortly after, new Knicks president and general manager Scott Perry put the talks on hold. They resumed negotiations with the Rockets in August, but no agreement was ever reached.
At the time, the only team Anthony was willing to trade his no-trade clause for was Houston. But after the deal unraveled, he said he began thinking of other possibilities.
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Anthony said he was preparing to report to Knicks training camp last week, but he admitted it would have been awkward.
"I don't think it would have been beneficial for me to come back to media day (in New York) after everything that was going on in the offseason," he said. "For me to have to deal with that, it would have been unfair for the organization, the Knicks, to have to deal with that. It would have been too much noise, too many questions to answer, and I don't think either party wanted to deal with that."
