To no one’s surprise, Carmelo Anthony is returning to the Thunder after opting into the final year of his contract.
Any hope that the Oklahoma City Thunder or their fans might’ve had about Carmelo Anthony leaving their team is gone.
The Vertical‘s Shams Charania reports that Anthony has informed the team he will be opting into his $27.9M deal for 2018-19.
Sources: Carmelo Anthony has informed the Oklahoma City Thunder that he has opted into $27.9M deal for 2018-19 by not exercising his early termination option.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 23, 2018
Anthony is coming off the worst season of his career with the Thunder and there’s no reason to think things will get better, but nobody in his position is passing up that kind of money.
The 34-year-old didn’t handle his team’s playoff loss to the Jazz well. In his outburst to the media, Anthony insinuated that he was being used incorrectly in the offense.
Via Fred Katz of MassLive.com:
It wasn’t no strategy to me being here, me being a part of the actual system and what type of player and things like that … I don’t think I can be effective as that type of player.
It’s likely that the same team will be back in OKC–maybe minus Paul George–so Anthony’s role won’t change. He’ll just be unhappy again. I guess I’d suck it up too for $28 million, though.
The 10-time All-Star went from laughing off the idea of coming off the bench to becoming angry at the suggestion.
Anthony told ESPN’s Royce Young, “I’m not sacrificing no bench role. So that’s out of the question.”
