Carmelo Anthony Details 'Done Deals' Before 2011 Knicks Trade
A deal that paired Carmelo Anthony with Kobe Bryant turned out to be ... Knicked.
Anthony, the recently-retired future Hall-of-Famer, detailed the beginning and end of his New York Knicks career in an appearance on Dwyane Wade's web series "The Why with Dwyane Wade," revealing that the 2011 trade that sent him to Manhattan was originally supposed to send him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
"The deal was done with the Lakers," Anthony told Wade. "Me and Nenê for Lamar Odom and (Andrew) Bynum. That deal was done. I never thought about New York."
Kirby Lee, USA TODAY SPORTS
Pairing Anthony with the late Bryant on a Lakers group fresh off consecutive championship wins perhaps goes down as one of the most intriguing "What if?" scenarios in NBA history. But Denver management, led by head coach George Karl, vetoed the deal, denying the formation of a SoCal superteam as well as the idea of running into an angry Anthony during the Western Conference tournament.
The intervention of Karl, who has held a contentious relationship with Anthony, perhaps indirectly denied Bryan a run at a sixth championship: Los Angeles was swept by eventual champion Dallas in the second round and did not return to the NBA Finals until 2020. Denver came home fifth that season and was eliminated by Oklahoma City in the opening round. The earliest they could've faced the Lakers (seeded second) would've been the conference final round.
"Now it's like, you don't want me in the West," Anthony said. "(You're) going to send me to the East, get me to New York."
Anthony eventually learned he'd be destined for the tri-state area, but on the other side of the Hudson River: during All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, Anthony was led to believe he was on his way to the New Jersey Nets.
"The deal never was with New York, the deal was with New Jersey Nets," Anthony said. "When it was All-Star Weekend, the deal was with the Nets."
At that time, the Nets were prepping for an eventual move to Anthony's Brooklyn birthplace. But the Knicks stole the spotlight from their metropolitan brothers, acquiring Anthony in a multi-pronged deal that also involved the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Anthony made clear that, if he was going to go East, he was going to play for the Knicks, making no effort to hide his displeasure with the Nets' state of transition. Denver was enchanted by third overall pick Derrick Favors, whom Anthony said was envisioned as "the next Nene." But Anthony said he wasn't interested in a deal with the Nets if they weren't back in his home borough. The Nets, who eventually traded for then-Utah Jazz star Deron Williams, were playing out their final Garden State years at Prudential Center, best known as the home of the NHL's New Jersey Devils.
"If you (were) in Brooklyn next year, I would be there," Anthony said. "I can’t play at the Prudential Center, champ. I just can’t. I can’t do that.”
Anthony's ensuing Knicks career is, of course, a whole other point of contention but he did reach several statistical landmarks, such as standing as only the seventh man to reach 10,000 points in blue and orange.
