The disappointing Carmelo Anthony trade return was the Knicks’ own fault

Six years ago, the Knicks traded the core of their roster to land the superstar New York City so desired in Carmelo Anthony. After three early playoff exits, a plethora of coaching changes, chaos from the front office downwards, and the public embarrassment of angering the star they gave up everything to get, the Knicks traded Anthony for a mere return of Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a second-round pick.

Anthony’s tenure in New York wasn’t supposed to end like this. Blame the Knicks that it did.

Anthony’s return home to New York evoked excitement for a franchise that had been a laughing stock for a decade. His “coming home” video was played everywhere. Anthony was supposed to spark the Knicks’ turnaround, and Amare Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups were there to help.

It wasn’t all gloomy in the Melo era. For a short time, things were okay, maybe even good! The Knicks went 54-28 in 2013, and they reached the conference semifinals.

Then the Knicks Knicksed, and Phil Jackson took over.

The team played a triangle offense it couldn’t buy into, and Jackson began publicly criticizing the superstar he invested $124 million in with a no-trade clause. That began a spiral of lashing out to the media and on Twitter.

The Knicks couldn’t capitalize on their years with Anthony, and that in itself may have been okay. But how he was treated in his final year with the team and city he vowed to stick with was not. And it cost them in the form of a mediocre blockbuster deal that yielded little in return

In the end, he gets the last laugh on his way to play with an MVP in Oklahoma City. But this could have gone so much smoother.

It’s not Anthony’s fault that the Knicks got little to replace him with.

The Knicks gave Anthony a lucrative contract and a no-trade clause three years ago that few players around the league possessed. The Knicks didn’t need to do that — Melo didn’t give himself a no-trade clause, after all. Despite it, Jackson still told the media that Anthony “would be better off somewhere else” in April.

That came months after Jackson publicly criticized Anthony for holding the ball too long, and co-signed a few other articles written by his friend Charley Rosen that ripped into the star’s defensive efforts.

Anthony couldn’t trust the front office again. By the time Jackson was fired, it was too late.

He wanted out of New York, and with tensions at their peak, the team couldn’t afford to keep him before training camp began.

With their hands tied by a no-trade clause they doled out, the Knicks were forced to abide by Anthony’s wishes. And that stinks for Knicks fans.

But there’s no one to blame but the Knicks’ previous management.