On Friday night, Carmelo Anthony met with Knicks officials and remained uncertain about how quickly Phil Jackson can turn the franchise back into a championship contender. As a result, Anthony is leaning toward leaving New York according to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski:
New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony is leaning toward leaving in pursuit of immediate championship contention, and awaits the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets to clear the necessary salary-cap space to sign him in free agency, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
With the Bulls and Rockets favorites to land Anthony, both teams will try to clear cap space or engage in sign-and-trade scenarios with the Knicks:
Chicago and Houston front-office executives are working diligently on contingencies to clear the space to sign Anthony outright – or engage sign-and-trade scenarios with New York, sources said.
After failing to make the playoffs this season, the Knicks hired Phil Jackson as president and Derek Fisher as head coach in hopes of keeping the All-Star in New York. Unfortunately, it appears that those efforts will not be enough as Anthony is looking to win now after 11 seasons in the league.
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Although free agency doesn’t begin until July 1, rumors have run rampant with Anthony being linked to numerous teams including the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. While there are conflicting reports on the Lakers’ interest in the All-Star, most assume that they will at least reach out to him as they try to build themselves back into championship contenders.
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