Landon Buford
10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony hasn’t played since November 8th, 2018, as a member of the Houston Rockets. In his final game as a Rocket, Carmelo played 20 minutes, scoring 2 points on one for 11 shots from the field. Eight days later, it was announced by ESPN’s Woj that the Rockets and Anthony would after only playing ten games for the organization.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey released a statement: “After much internal discussion, the Rockets will be parting ways with Carmelo Anthony, and we are working toward a resolution,” said Morey.
“Carmelo had a tremendous approach during his time with the Rockets and accepted every role head coach Mike D’Antoni gave him. The fit we envisioned when Carmelo chose to sign with the Rockets has not materialized; therefore we thought it was best to move on as any other outcome would have been unfair to him.”
On January 22, 2019, it was also reported by ESPN’s Woj, that the Rockets agreed to trade Carmelo Anthony and cash to the Chicago Bulls.
The Houston Rockets have agreed to trade Carmelo Anthony and cash to the Chicago Bulls, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 21, 2019
On February 1, Woj reported the Bulls had waived Carmelo Anthony, and he had cleared waivers meaning he was free to sign with any team in the league.
In late February, Heavy’s Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson reported that he received a text from a league source who is familiar with the Lakers share with him “LeBron’s camp is insisting on the front office signing Melo,” said Robinson.
“But the team wants to go in a different direction.”
On March 7th, Robinson received another text message from a league source, stating that “LeBron’s camp no longer has interest in the Lakers signing Melo this season,” said Robinson.
Woj also reported that talks between the Lakers and Anthony had been put on halt.
The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Carmelo Anthony are pausing talks on a possible contract agreement unless the franchise makes a turn back toward the pursuit of Western Conference playoffs contention, league sources told ESPN.
The Lakers had been leaning toward signing Anthony for the rest of the season — until losses in four of the past five games left the organization and Anthony’s camp wondering if it made sense to bring the veteran into an unsettled environment with suddenly so little chance of making the playoffs, league sources said.
Earlier this season, I spoke with Blake Griffin and asked if he felt Melo’s style translates into today’s game
“Melo is a Hall of Famer, and I think it is funny how fickle today’s world with social media and everything has become what have you done for me lately. I don’t if they remember how good of a player he was and still is. Sometimes it’s the situation; it’s sucks to see as a basketball player to see people act he is something he is not, said Griffin.
“I have a feeling Melo will turn it around.”
CJ Miles also weighed in after a 123 to 120 Raptors victory for over the Dallas Mavericks.
“I think the analytics is what did that to him. He is a bucket that is what he is, and I understand the situation went a certain way, but he still is Melo. He still has a lot in his tank, and he can still play this game. I think situations have gone his way, but the slander talk is crazy a lot of the time,“ said Miles.
After morning shootaround in Dallas, Heat Center Hassan Whiteside had this to say about Melo.
“Wow a Carmelo question, said Whiteside, “Carmelo is a scoring machine.“
Before the Blazers took on the Dallas Mavericks for the second time on the road this season. Rodney Hood shared his thoughts on Carmelo being able to still play the game of basketball.
“ Yeah definitely I mean this is a guy who is probably to this today, one of the hardest guys to guard. In isolation type of situations and he is a legend. He is one of my favorite players to ever play and it is tough to see him go through what he is going through in the media. I think he can definitely help a team especially when playoff time comes when things start to stagnate. He is a veteran, so I hope he lands on his feet,“ Hood told me.
