Mike Woodson told a New York radio station Wednesday that while he’s concerned that Carmelo Anthony will leave in free agency, he nonetheless believes the star will remain with the Knicks for the rest of his career. That reflects the sentiment of the organization, which “can’t imagine” that Anthony would sign elsewhere, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post (Sulia link). Berman nonetheless hears that last year’s scoring champ will depart if the team continues to lose.
Anthony has been publicly supportive of embattled teammate J.R. Smith, and the two have played together for several years, dating back to their time in Denver. Smith’s presence on the team nonetheless doesn’t make it any more attractive to Anthony, Berman writes, referencing a report in 2012 that Anthony had reservations about the team’s decision to sign Smith. Anthony denied that report.
The team’s confidence that it can re-sign Anthony, who’ll almost certainly opt out of his contract this summer, is why the organization laughs off the notion that they would trade the star for Blake Griffin. The Knicks will have the advantage of being able to offer more money and an extra year in a new contract for Anthony, a Creative Artists Agency client like so many on the Knicks.
Silly grammatical thing, but Anthony cannot remain with the Knicks for ‘his entire career’, having already played with the Nuggets. ‘For the remainder of his career’ is better.
Thank you for catching that. It’s fixed now. I like it when people care about grammar!
–Chuck