As The Vertical reported Thursday morning, the Knicks are engaged in talks with several teams in their attempt to move Carmelo Anthony. Yahoo’s Chris Mannix, who cowrote the original report, joined The Ringer NBA Show to discuss what he’s hearing about Melo and the Knicks — and why he can’t see the superstar staying in New York for long.
Listen to the full podcast here. This transcript has been edited and condensed.
The Knicks Are Moving On
Chris Vernon: [What’s the] percentage chance Carmelo Anthony is wearing a Knicks uniform in a month?
Chris Mannix: I would say about 25 percent, at this point. The Knicks are just engaged with too many teams right now. I’m not in those meetings, but in talking to people that have been made aware of these meetings and the substance of them, there seems to be a real aggressiveness, a proactivity, a strong desire to find a deal that works and to move on from Carmelo Anthony.
He’s clearly not going to be a part of long-term, sustained success. That player is Kristaps Porzingis. I think the Knicks are looking for the right mix of young assets. If they can do that, they’re going to move Carmelo Anthony.
Do the Celtics Even Want Carmelo?
Vernon: We have always known that Danny Ainge was loaded for bear and that eventually he would get a star-level player. He’s got all of these assets. How badly do you think the Celtics want him? Because it just all seems rather natural; here’s the team with all of these assets that you would want to get if you were moving Carmelo. But I guess the point is, is Boston really going to be willing to give something serious up in order to attain him? How badly do you think they want him?
Mannix: They don’t want him as bad as they’d, say, want a Blake Griffin, or one of the Golden State quartet, if they were available. So they’re not going to break the bank and give up the core pieces of these assets, specifically those Nets picks, to get this deal done. They do recognize that a wing scorer like Carmelo enhances their chances of winning right away, and they’re hell-bent on doing that at this point.
But at the same time, the collective bargaining agreement is going to make collecting stars over the next few years exceedingly difficult. You are either going to have to choose between a well-balanced team with one superstar, like Oklahoma City, perhaps. Or a team like Cleveland with three or four max-level stars that’s fleshed out with a roster of second-round picks and minimum-salary guys. That’s what’s going to happen with this collective bargaining agreement. I think the Celtics are banking on, in the coming years, teams with multiple stars saying, “We can’t afford these guys,” or “We’re not going to win the championship with these two guys.” At that point, Danny Ainge jumps in with all his young pieces, with all his tradable assets, and gets Boston that next franchise player that they can pair with their core.
