After leading his team to a win in their season finale on Wednesday, Carmelo Anthony is left to wonder if it was the final game he'll ever play for the New York Knicks. With all the uncertainties about his future, he knows this summer will be a busy one for him, and that there will be huge decisions he has to make.
The 10-time All Star recently admitted, via Ian Begley of ESPN, that it will be difficult for him to trust team president Phil Jackson again, especially with all the strong comments he's made publicly against him. However, he also made it clear that he prefers staying in New York and is still committed to winning with the Knicks.
“If somebody was talking bad about you indirectly at your job, what would you do? You would feel a certain way. You would want that person to come straightforward with you. And I feel the same way. I'm always open. I'm a very honest person. I know the business and I know the game and I know how it works. So if it's something that you want to get across, a message that you want to get across, I've always been open.”
“If everybody's committed to [winning], I'm committed to that too. I want to win, and hopefully everybody else has that same type of mindset.”
Despite Anthony owning a no-trade clause in his current contract, many believe he will be forced to waive it this summer and will agree to be dealt once the team's direction becomes clearer. He did not confirm nor deny this possibility, and just said that he has a lot to think about before deciding on his future.
“I have to figure it out at that point. It would have to be a decision I really sit down and think about and figure it out. I'm going to have to do a lot of figuring things out right now — sit down with my team, sit down with my family, really figure this out, kind of really put what's important to me at this point in my career, which is winning.”
There have been a lot of distractions that could've gotten the best of Anthony, but he remained professional throughout the season and just focused on playing his game. He still averaged impressive numbers of 22.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists while hitting a number of clutch shots as the Knicks' go-to-guy.
Should he agree to be traded, it can be expected that he'll receive a lot of interest from around the league, especially with his ability to score and dominate games. The situation with the Knicks is definitely something worth keeping an eye on and it will be very interesting to find out how things will unfold.
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