Carmelo Anthony has told the Thunder that he won’t exercise his Early Termination Option, sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). He will be under contract for approximately $27.9MM this upcoming season.
The move was widely expected, as the market for Anthony’s services didn’t appear to match the lofty figure he’ll receive during the final season of the five-year deal he signed with the Knicks during the summer of 2014. Marc Stein of the New York Times reported on Friday that Melo would take this route.
Anthony averaged a career-low 16.2 PPG this past season, adding career lows in assists per game (1.3) and minutes per game (32.1). He was an afterthought during the team’s short playoff run, often hitting the bench during crucial moments.
Anthony had previously indicated that he wanted a larger role and a buyout agreement between Anthony and Oklahoma City could be forthcoming. After this week’s draft, GM Sam Presti said he was in contact with the future Hall-of-Famer.
The trade market may a difficult one for the Thunder to navigate, but with many teams lacking cap space and holding contracts from the summer of 2016 on their books, it’s possible a deal gets done. That’s based solely off of speculation, yet with the contracts of Timofey Mozgov (two years, slightly over $32MM remaining) and Dwight Howard (one year, $23.5MM remaining; likely to reach a buyout agreement with the Nets) on the move this week, it appears that no contract is untradable under the right circumstances.
Once again, consider me shocked.
No shocker here, Melo wouldn’t make $27.9M the rest of his career, much less in a year.
anyway for melo and howard to end up in Cleveland … would that make LeBron stay ?
I’d rather leave the Cavs if I was LeBron, than to have Howard and Melo join the Cavs lol
Poor Thunder are stuck with Anthony for another season.
I’m sure they heard him the first time.
If I’m Melo, I’m not giving up a cent. If PG-13 leaves, I think Melo can still be good scoring option for the Thunder. He’s not a guy that can be a 3rd option, well at least he’s really not willing to be
Been an expiring contract can help to trade him, another team can open up cap room at the end of the season, shame that they have Adams otherwise I could see a trade with Miami for Whiteside. If not buy him out & he can hopefully go & enjoy playing in another team that wants him or he wants to be with, having fun, that’s the most important man.
Not sure Miami presents a match, since Whiteside is owed about the same AAV as Anthony for not one, but two more seasons.
Anthony to BKN for DeMarre Carroll and Jeremy Lin matches up money-wise, but does it make enough sense for each team to work out?