Carmelo Anthony is open to waiving his no-trade clause for the Rockets or Cavaliers, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. This is interesting news, especially considering that Phil Jackson was at least in part fired as the president of the Knicks for trying to cajole Anthony into waiving his trade veto power. Perhaps Jackson just wasn’t asking nicely enough!
Start the Carmelo Anthony trade watch
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Melo can become a free agent in 2018, and I would find it shocking if either Anthony or the Knicks wanted to re-up for another three or four years. He’s 33 now, and the Knicks are just on a different timeline. It’s in New York’s best interest to let Kristaps Porzingis, Frank Ntilikina, and other younger players find their footing, and to get something for Melo before he walks anyways.
Does Houston have the right package? They gave up a lot to get Chris Paul, and Woj reports the Knicks don’t want Ryan Anderson (understandably so, given that contract). That makes a two-team trade very difficult.
Meanwhile, any Cavaliers trade probably needs to involve a third team or Kevin Love. In other words, this is going to be a wildly difficult quest in any case.
But the first step in finding a new home for Melo is getting past the no-trade. So maybe there’s a chance.
The Nuggets won the Paul Millsap sweepstakes, giving the big man three years and $90 million. That means that Danilo Gallinari is assuredly gone -- the Clippers look like the best guess for him -- and Kenneth Faried is likely trade bait. What about free agent Mason Plumlee, for whom Denver just gave up a first-round pick and Jusuf Nurkic? Good question!
Millsap to the Denver means that the Timberwolves’ hunt for a power forward went a different direction, and that direction is familiarity: Minnesota signed Taj Gibson to a lucrative two-year deal, reuniting him with Tom Thibodeau and Jimmy Butler.
The Raptors decided to bring most of the band back together: Kyle Lowry re-upped for $100 million over three years and Serge Ibaka took $65 million over three years. That is Toronto’s window. If they aren’t at the precipice of breaking through to the Finals in two years, in 2019, it will be time to break it all up.
Paul Flannery on the Sixers beginning to move past The Process.
Yes. Bill Rhoden suggests July 1 be dubbed Big O Day in honor of Oscar Robertson, who paved the path for NBA free agency (and the buckets of money that now come with it) decades ago.
The Rockets figured out a new deal for Nene.
The Cavaliers re-signed Kyle Korver to a three-year deal.
It appears the Kings tossed a max offer at Otto Porter, but the forward will be meeting with a couple of other teams before deciding which offer sheet to sign. The Wizards should probably be hoping for a max four-year offer with no options as a best case scenario. If the Kings or another team wanted to get goofy, they could offer a three-year max with an early termination option and 15 percent trade kicker, which would make Porter more expensive sooner. (Why doesn’t Washington just make the max Jimmy Butler offer and be done? What a good question!)
Tim Kawakami breaks down how Andre Iguodala got $48 million guaranteed out of the Warriors, and what it means for Golden State going forward.
This appears to be Kawhi Leonard wearing game shorts and Tim Duncan socks at a mall. As one does.
A New Jersey electrician embedded pro-Hinkie messages throughout the Sixers’ practice facility. Glorious.
Fantastic Marc Spears story on DeMar DeRozan going home to Compton.
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