Carmelo Anthony would favor Chicago over L.A. if he leaves Knicks, per report

A ‘Melo confidant reportedly thinks the Bulls are a more realistic option for the perennial All Star.

Jan 25, 2014, 6:09 PM UTC

Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Carmelo Anthony will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and although the Knicks can offer him 5 years and almost $130 million, rumors are already popping up that he's got his eyes on other teams.

According to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, one of Anthony's confidant's says "Chicago is much more in play [in free agency] for [Anthony] than L.A." The setup of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah with the Bulls is more appealing than a nearly 40-year-old Kobe Bryant and, well, Jodie Meeks, with the Lakers.

Anthony has not publicly addressed his pending free agency -- he and most other NBA players have learned from LeBron James' and Dwight Howard's mistakes -- but before the season, it seemed like a safe assumption he would re-sign with the Knicks, considering they were coming off a 50-plus-win season and his popularity had never been higher. Now, the Knicks are 16-27 and two games behind the Charlotte Bobcats for the eighth seed in the pathetic Eastern Conference, and nothing is for certain.

Wojnarowski, as he is wont to do, opines that, after ‘Melo’s soon-to-be-legendary 62-point explosion Friday night, Anthony should stay in New York and embrace being a championship-less star:

In the end, this is the essence of Carmelo Anthony: a peerless scorer deserving of holding the franchise’s and arena’s forever records. Every generation has its stars who were spectacular, but never complete enough to be the centerpiece of a champion. There’s no shame there. This was a night when ‘Melo’s legacy as a scoring ace delivered him into the brightest light of this season, on basketball’s most glorious stage at the Garden.