The Houston Rockets see Big 3 potential for next season, and James Harden agrees, Carmelo Anthony would be a beneficial acquisition in aid of their title hopes.
The Houston Rockets made a big splash to start the summer by acquiring point guard Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers. Since news broke, they’ve been pursuing a Carmelo Anthony trade with the New York Knicks.
Ian Begley of ESPN New York, tweeted Thursday afternoon that Carmelo Anthony was reportedly “ready for a Houston trade” as early as this week:
Only Carmelo knows if he's still open to staying in NY at this point. But people around him said earlier this week that he was ready for HOU
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) July 14, 2017
Trade talks have stalled however, in light of the Knicks hiring new General Manager Scott Perry, out of Sacramento. The new GM would like to see Anthony stick it out for another year, or at least add more teams to his list.
The no-trade-clause featured in his contract makes this trade hard enough, but for the Rockets and Knicks, it took getting two other teams involved, per Adrian Wojnarowski , of ESPN.
Sources: Knicks, Rockets working on Carmelo Anthony trade scenarios that include four-team deals. Sides motivated but no agreement imminent.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2017
James Harden, who was very vocal about his desire to team up with Paul, has now opened up to ESPN on his opinion of Anthony as well.
“One of the best players we have in this league.”
Though an advocate, Harden admitted there’s little he can control in situations such as this.
“That’s out of my hands, I go out there and put the basketball in the hoop and handle my business.”
Nonetheless, both Harden and the Rockets front office know adding an All-Star scorer like Anthony will only help the team towards a championship.
“If we can get him, obviously he would help our team tremendously.”
With five straight playoff appearances put together for Houston, there’s no doubt we’ll see them on another run come the end of the season.
A team that’s focused on more offense and less defense, Carmelo Anthony may be the perfect fit.