Melo Escaping New York?

You knew it might be coming sooner or later. Carmelo Anthony has been the best offensive player on the New York Knicks for quite some time now. With that being said, there have been rumblings coming out of New York. After signing Melo to the new contract, with the No Trade Clause added in mind you, it looked like Melo was going to stay a Knick the rest of his career. Now it looks like that might not exactly be the case. Carmelo is now willing to leave New York, and the Knicks are willing to trade him. But can they find an offer that fits right?

It was announced Monday by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that Anthony is willing to waive his no-trade clause to join Houston or Cleveland. This is Melo's way, as far as I can read it, that he wants to win a Championship, and who can blame him. It just looks like he's not going to get it here in New York with the Knicks. As is with anything that the Knicks have done as of late, there are a couple of snags. The Knicks have told people they don't want to take back older players on longer contracts in any transaction. At the same time, many in the organization feel it's best to trade Anthony, and if you do, you hope you are able to get something of value for him. According to insiders at ESPN, there are a couple of factors to take into account for a deal to go through. At the moment, the Knicks are over the salary cap, so they'd have to take back $100,000 plus 125 percent of what they would send out in an Anthony trade. Of course, they could go under the cap if they renounced their rights to Derrick Rose ($29.7 million) and Sasha Vujacic ($1.4 million), moves that would create $16 million in space. Also, there's Anthony's trade kicker. Anthony has a 15 percent trade kicker that would add $8.1 million to his 2017-18 salary. That would bring Anthony's contract to $34.7 million, which is almost untradable.

So what does this all mean? Well it really comes down to money at the heart of the issue. Can a trade be made? Well there are a couple of options, according to ESPN. One is a deal with the Rockets. The deal will get the Knicks a boat load of players. One purposed deal would send Melo to Houston in exchange for Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, Ryan Kelly, Shawn Long, Tim Quarterman and Isaiah Taylor. There's also another move involing a third team in the Miami Heat, which would involve a ton of players plus a couple of draft picks being moved around. Then again, there is also a possibility of a deal being made with the defending Eastern Conference Champions, the Cleveland Cavaleres, who have quite a few players that the Knicks have an interest in. But the only logical sense would be a straight up trade Melo to Cleveland for Kevin Love. At the same time, while that might look attractive, Love might not fit into the Knicks offensive system. The last option, if a trade doesn't work, is for the Knicks to straight up buy Carmelo out. A buyout would be a less than ideal outcome for New York, which would receive no assets in return for a player it signed to a $124 million contract just three years ago. But the Knicks could create cap space, and if Anthony and the Knicks elect for the buyout option, the amount reduced would be stretched out over five seasons. For example, if Anthony and the Knicks agree to pay out $35 million of the $54 million Anthony is owed, the Knicks would have $7 million on their cap over the next five seasons (ESPN).

The long and the short of it is the Knicks need to find the right fit for them if they are to get rid of Melo. I know he wanted to stay here in New York, but its starting to look like he's maybe worn out his welcome. So if they can't get a good offer back in a trade, which by the Way Carmelo has made it public knowledge that he wants to go to either Cleveland or Houston, then just buy him out and let him go where he wants to play. Melo has had a good run here in the Garden, but now at this point it might be better to just cut ties and move on.