The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the 22 teams heading to Orlando for the resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season. Whether veteran forward Carmelo Anthony joins the team remains to be seen.
Anthony told Ernie Johnson he was not “100 percent” sold on the idea of playing in the “bubble,” citing a lack of information as the reason for his noncommittal attitude.
Portland's Carmelo Anthony to @TurnerSportsEJ:
"As far as actually playing … I'm still up in the air a little bit because we don't have all the details. We don't know a lot of information, so until we have that, it's kind of hard to just commit to it 100 percent"
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 11, 2020
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported Wednesday a “faction” of players held a conference call to discuss a number of concerns, in addition to Carmelo Anthony.
Wojnarowski also stated these concerns varied from the inability to leave the Orlando campus to resuming play amid a time of social unrest:
Players are citing a number of concerns, including family situations, the inability to leave the Disney World Resort campus, the coronavirus pandemic and the implications surrounding the emergence of social justice causes in the country, sources said. Participants in Orlando — including players — will not be allowed to leave the bubble environment without a 10-day quarantine upon their return to the Disney grounds, sources said.
It is unknown whether Anthony was among the players who joined the aforementioned conference call, though he is certainly hesitant to say he will absolutely be playing.
Anthony has been a valuable member of the Blazers since he was signed in November, providing much-needed depth in the frontcourt with the absence of Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic. Anthony was averaging 15.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in 50 games prior to the suspension of play.
The NBA will not punish players who choose not to participate in the resumption of play, also allowing teams to have up to 17 players on their roster.
But Portland could surely use Carmelo in the rotation as they chase the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
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