The New Jersey Nets told the media on Wednesday that before the team gave up its pursuit of a Carmelo Anthony trade, the Denver Nuggets had indeed granted the Nets permission to talk to their All-Star forward about a potential contract extension should a deal have gone down. But Nets team owner Mikhail Prokhorov never took up the Nuggets on that offer, and 'Melo told reporters on Wednesday that he was disappointed.
Carmelo Anthony Says He Wanted To Meet Nets’ Mikhail Prokhorov
After the Nuggets' Wednesday win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, 'Melo said he had looked forward to meeting Prokhorov when he found his team would allow it. From FanHouse's Chris Tomasson:
“Yeah, I mean he’s a very interesting man,” Anthony said. “For me to just be in the room with him and to just have a conversation, I would have loved that.”
Unfortunately, that will only serve to make Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke feel more inadequate. Prokhorov was fierce in his rejection of continued trade talks, and it’s unclear what in particular derailed negotiations once the Russian billionaire arrived in New York this week. Getting ‘Melo to sign off on a multi-year extension was seen as one of the final hurdles toward getting a deal done; the Nets had permission to make their pitch directly to the star they’d courted for five months.
Like it or not, all that just adds to the intrigue surrounding Prokhorov.
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