New York Knicks Trade Carmelo Anthony to Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City Thunder got another boost in their chase for Golden State Warriors by adding Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks.

Carmelo Anthony with the US Men's basketball team in 2016.
Carmelo Anthony with the US Men's basketball team in 2016. Photo by Heuler Andrey/AGIF/REX/Shutterstock (5837242v)

Just when we thought there are no more surprises in what has been an exciting NBA offseason, New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder decided to shake things up. On Saturday the Knicks have traded their superstar Carmelo Anthony to the OKC in exchange for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and Chicago’s 2018 second-round draft pick. Carmelo Anthony had a no-trade clause in his contract and decided to waive it in favor of joining the Thunder. On Monday Thunder had officially introduced Melo.

After it became obvious that the Knicks are determined to build around Kristaps Porzingis, rumors about Melo’s next destination started circling around. The problem was that Melo had 2 more years on his contract with a no-trade clause, which limited the Knicks’ moves. At first, Anthony was prepared to waive his clause for Houston Rockets only, in order to play with James Harden and Chris Paul. Since the deal couldn’t be made, mostly because Rockets wanted to include Ryan Anderson’s three years, $60 million contract in the trade, Knicks asked for Melo to expand the list of his preferred teams. Reports said that he added Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, unwilling to enter the training camp as a Knicks player. Since Cavaliers didn’t even consider trading for Melo, Thunder’s GM Sam Presti made another exceptional job and brought him to Oklahoma.

Although it is well known that Melo is past his prime, it is still surprising that Knicks got so little for him. Enes Kanter is a good role player, who will give his team 16 points per night, but he isn’t exactly superstar caliber player and represents a defensive liability. Doug McDermott has shown some flashes through his career, but he isn’t exactly a catch. We can safely say that Thunder got the best out of this deal. They managed to add a superstar like Carmelo Anthony to a team that already has reigning MVP in Russell Westbrook and arguably top 10 NBA player in Paul George. If coach Billy Donovan can work out chemistry issues, then nothing stops Thunder from challenging the Golden State Warriors for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Harley loves music and tries to go to a music festival every summer. When he's not listening to music, he writes about movies, food and wine, art, and sport.