Knicks Deal For Carmelo Anthony

Added on Feb 22, 2011 by Scott in

NBA

According to various sources, the New York Knicks finally ended months of speculation and completed a trade last night to acquire Nuggets All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony. It took three teams and multiple players and draft picks to pull it off, but Anthony appears to have gotten his wish to play in the Big Apple and will reportedly receive a three-year, $65 million contract extension.

Okay, follow the bouncing ball. The Knicks shipped Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a 2014 first-round pick and additional picks to Denver, in exchange for Melo, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. Minnesota also jumped aboard and sent Corey Brewer to New York for Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry’s expiring deal and $3 million in cash.

Whew. Now that’s a trade! Basically, the Knicks unloaded three of their top four scorers, including their best point guard, and a pair of bench players to get Melo and Billups’ 41 points and 8 assists per night. Losing Felton and Chandler hurts, but the opportunity to land a superstar was too good to pass up.

Paired with Amare Stoudemire, Anthony gives the Knicks two of the league’s top offensive players. Whether or not it will improve their chances to challenge the Celtics, Heat and Bulls down the stretch remains to be seen. At 28-26, they are currently sitting in the sixth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.