New York Knicks president Phil Jackson‘s public revelation of potentially trading star forward Carmelo Anthony has done nothing but hurt his trade value.
While many viewed Anthony as a hard-to-deal-with character in his exit from the Denver Nuggets in 2011, he's now widely viewed as the martyr of this trade scenario.
After a much maligned stint in his last three years in New York, Anthony has handled the limelight and all the scrutiny that comes with it as well or better than anyone possibly could in a market like The Big Apple.
Jackson's sudden announcement of the Knicks' trade intentions makes him a complete seller — and sellers hardly ever win in an NBA negotiation.
To compound the problem, Jackson dropped a few extra nuggets along with the announcement, deterring Anthony's character for those who could potentially look to acquire him this offseason.
The 32-year-old is being depicted as someone a team can't win with, despite making the playoffs the first 10 years of his career.
Asked if he wants Melo back, Phil Jackson notes that Knicks haven't been able to win with him.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 14, 2017
Counterpoint: They've won more with Melo as a player than they have with PJax as an executive. https://t.co/JmLkYfQRnr
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 14, 2017
The Knicks have won a combined 80 games since Jackson was hired as president of basketball operations at the start of the 2014-15 season, while they had won 141 games without in the previous three-and-a-third seasons since Anthony's arrival in New York.
Phil Jackson says he told Carmelo in the exit meeting, "You don't want to end up your career not winning" and he shouldn't want that label.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 14, 2017
The very fact that Jackson is looking for a “significant player” (per Begley) in return for Anthony can mean a myriad of things, and if Jackson isn't getting the value he wants in return for Anthony, it'll be the Knicks forward who takes all the blame.
Teams around the NBA know that Anthony has a shortlist of destinations in mind, but the reality of it is that his no-trade clause isn't the main issue, but how much Jackson has dragged his name through the mud and magnified his reputation of a selfish, ball-stopping player.
The only real statistical drop-off from this season compared to 2015-16 has been a minus-1.8 rebound difference, mostly due to the incorporation of better rebounders in Kristaps Porzingis at power forward and Joakim Noah/Kyle O'Quinn/Willy Hernangomez at center.
If Jackson indeed manages to pull off a trade for Anthony, the Baltimore native would be the one to reap the rewards, getting an $8.1 million bonus over his next two seasons, per Bobby Marks of The Vertical.
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