As the season reaches its last quarter, some teams are spiraling down. One of them is the New York Knicks.
The Knicks already had their boost at the start of the season when their 4th overall pick Kristaps Porzingis turned out to be the real deal. Then, they exceeded last season's win total in less than half of the games. For the better part of the season, they were in playoff contention.
That has changed, and now some of their scenes are not so attractive. Their superstar, Carmelo Anthony just told a heckler to "get his money back" from the owner. After that, Anthony admitted that the team forced him to apologize. Even before that debacle, the Knicks fired their coach, Derek Fisher and in the midst of losing 15 of their last 18 games.
In a recent Jalen and Jacoby podcast, former player now analyst Jalen Rose declared that Carmelo Anthony's days with the Knicks are numbered. If he has disrespected the owner of the team, Rose thinks he's done and he would probably waive his no-trade clause.
Rose mentioned three teams that could present as the best fits for Melo. Those teams should be successful or have the ability to reach at least the playoffs without Anthony, and of course, there is the cap space. But because of the salary cap increase, that was not such a game changer.
The team he ranked third is the Charlotte Hornets. He cited that the team has other scorers now and the fact that Melo is a Jordan brand endorser would help. Jeremy Lin's presence might present a challenge, though. Also, they are not really that strong even with Melo.
The second ranked team is the Milwaukee Bucks. While they will probably miss the playoffs this season, no one counts out the talent on that team. They have Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, Khris Middleton. Rose cited that the main trade chip could be center Greg Monroe, someone the Knicks pursued last summer.
The best trade destination for Anthony according to Rose is the Boston Celtics. The team has enough assets to trade for Melo and they have good defensive players on the roster who can cover Anthony's shortcomings.
Ian Begley of ESPN reported that the Celtics actually thought about that prospect as they probably inquired, at least.
"It is unclear if there were any formal discussions between New York and Boston and if those discussions ever reached an advanced stage," Begley carefully stated. "But Boston was informed that Anthony had no desire to leave the Knicks via trade to play for the Celtics, sources say."
The Knicks do not have a first round pick nor any other significant trade assets aside from Anthony and Porzingis. They won't be able to improve fielding the same roster next season and the market is too congested for the Knicks to land a free agent. For both the team and Melo himself, it's better that he waive his no-trade clause.