Carmelo Anthony, Thunder are ‘circling each other,’ per report

Carmelo Anthony is halfway out the door and ready to move on from the Knicks. The only question left to answer is where will it be. A dark horse destination for Anthony appears to be the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to a report from Bill Simmons.

Simmons seems to believe that there is mutual interest between the two sides and that they’re currently ‘circling’ one another.

Now Simmons doesn’t normally throw things out, but there’s a reason for that. As good as he is at what he does, he isn’t a reporter. So things like this have to be taken with a grain of salt.

But clearly, there’s some source out there that has led Simmons to believe this. And if true, Anthony could make a great addition to a Thunder team in need of scoring and versatility on the wing.

Anthony averaged 22.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game during last year’s tumultuous campaign with the Knicks.

As good of a fit as Anthony might be alongside Paul George and Russell Westbrook, a trade with the Thunder makes no sense for the Knicks. The Thunder’s cupboards are scarce with their lack of assets right now, and that’s what the Knicks will be looking for in return for Anthony.

It’s clear Anthony doesn’t want to be there anymore and is open to waiving his no-trade clause for the right situation, so the Knicks do lose some leverage there. But is it enough for them to take back Jerami Grant, Doug McDermott or Alex Abrines in a trade? Probably not.

Those players are fine but aren’t good enough to be considered movable assets. The players who could be considered valuable trade pieces are ones the Thunder can’t consider moving.

Andre Roberson just signed a new deal, so he isn’t eligible to be traded until Dec. 15. Steven Adams is too integral to what the Thunder do defensively for him to be moved. Enes Kanter is a fine player and probably a movable asset, but he’ll cost New York a ton for years to come and isn’t always playable.

Plus, the Thunder already have draft picks for 2018 and 2020 committed elsewhere. Per the Stepien rule, they aren’t eligible to trade another first-round pick until 2022.

And maybe the most essential part of all this is Anthony has to want to go to Oklahoma City. It’s not a secret that, at some point in his career, he wants to play with the banana boat crew of Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade. Oklahoma City doesn’t have any of those players and they aren’t going to.

It’s tough to see this going down. The two sides could always try to get a third team involved, but that’s always difficult to orchestrate. It’s a possibility, but I wouldn’t call it a likely one.

Anthony would be a good fit in Oklahoma City. He gives them the spacing and versatility they need on the wing to have an actual threat as a small ball power forward or as a scoring small forward.

The Thunder pulled a coup with Paul George because the Pacers lacked leverage. The Knicks lack the same thing here. Both sides have made it clear they’re eager for a split at this point. Anthony’s ability to reject any trade he doesn’t like is a big deal.

He can determine where he wants to go. If it’s Oklahoma City, and the Knicks are desperate to make the split from Anthony happen, they could be put in a position where they take little in return just to begin their rebuilding effort.

We’ve seen this happen over and over again this offseason — star players aren’t being traded for much these days. We can’t rule it out happening once again, even if it does seem unlikely.

Yes, the fit makes sense. But Anthony has to want to be there and the Knicks have to find themselves a good deal. If they don’t? That’s fine. They can just hold onto Anthony, and he’ll have to suffer through another season in New York.

The Thunder don’t have the assets to make this move and new Knicks General Manager Scott Perry will want to make his first major move a good one for the organization. It just isn’t likely that this happens without a third team involved, and that’s a difficult thing to do.