Before Carmelo Antony joined the New York Knicks, he nearly joined forces with Kobe Bryant on the Purple and Gold. As Anthony recently revealed on Dwyane Wade’s podcast ‘The Why,’ there was a deal done with the Lakers back in 2010 that also would have involved Nene and Lamar Odom.
“The deal was done with the Lakers: me and Nene for Lamar Odom and [Andrew] Bynum,” said Anthony. “I never thought about New York. [Ex-Nuggets head coach George Karl] had that deal and turned that deal down. Now, it’s like, ‘Oh y’all don’t want me in the West. You gonna send me to the East? Get me to New York.”
After six and a half seasons in Denver, Antony was finally traded in 2011 in an infamous deal that sent him to the Knicks for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a first-round pick, and two second-round picks.
As good As Melo was at the time, it was clear that he was never going to win in Denver after losing to the Utah Jazz in the 2010 playoffs. As the Melo sweepstakes began that summer, the Knicks were joined by several other teams in his pursuit: the Lakers and the New Jersey Nets, who were next in line.
Had Antony joined Kobe Bryant and the Lakers back then, his career might be remembered very differently today, and they might have won an extra one or two more championships together before it was all said and done. Instead, Carmelo became a Knick and he left years later without anything to show for his time there.
A Bitter Ending For Carmelo Anthony
What started as a match made in heaven between Carmelo and the Knicks quickly turned into wasted potential when they repeatedly underperformed year after year. And as much as Carmelo may have wanted to stick around, things were already on ice with the Knicks and Phil Jackson was pushing to force him out at every turn.
“There’s no explanation. Listen, I’m gonna try to give you this in a quick summary,” said Anthony. “When I left New York, I didn’t leave New York. I got pushed out of New York, Phil [Jackson] pushed me out of New York. I struggled to leave New York.”
Toward the end of his Knicks run, Carmelo Antony clashed with then-Knicks President Phil Jackson, who was doing everything in his power to hand Kristaps Porzingis the keys to the franchise. Ultimately, Phil got his wishes and Antony was sent to the Thunder in a trade for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a second-round draft pick.
Unfortunately, things would only get worse for Carmelo from here. He only lasted a single season with the Thunder, where he shot 40% from the field over 78 games. After a quick stop in Houston, Carmelo was essentially exiled from the league completely until he finally got another chance with the Trail Blazers in the 2019-2020 season.
Carmelo played his last NBA game years ago and while he will always be celebrated as a Knicks legend, it’s hard to ignore what’s lacking from his resume and the unfinished business he left behind in all of his previous stops. Had he been traded to the Lakers all those years ago, things might be different for Anthony now and he might have some hardware to validate his place on the all-time leaderboard.
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