Did Carmelo Anthony Almost Land With the Boston Celtics? Kristaps Porzingis Against It
Carmelo Anthony continues to be hounded by trade rumors despite the fact that the deadline had already lapsed last week.
Though the focus right now are on the players who have been waived or bought out like Joe Johnson and Andre Miller respectively, the Knicks star forward remains a hot topic in the NBA rumor mill
Anthony was linked to several teams last week, where a trade could only be possible if he willed it. This is because there is a no-trade clause in his contract, which means that the Knicks are helpless until the 31-year-old star is under contract.
Regarding the buzz that Knicks management allegedly approached him for a possible trade, Anthony simply replied, “No. Heck no.”
He further reiterated his stance in a radio interview with SiriusXM radio.
"I don't want to run. I could have ran somewhere when I was a free agent. I came back for a reason. I came back because I want to be here," Anthony said.
One team that was linked to Anthony was the Boston Celtics. It seemed that they were among those who expressed interest on the All-Star forward. However, if it went as far as discussions is yet to be confirmed.
The Celtics were not creating much noise before the Feb. 18 NBA trade deadline though that makes two star players that they allegedly were going after. The other was Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The claimed transaction would have seen Anthony landing Cleveland.
But as Anthony stated earlier, it made no sense for him to stay on and then ask for a trade. But of course, the turmoil within the Knicks’ ranks is something that could have pushed Anthony to resort to a trade.
That should be welcome news to rookie Kristaps Porzingis, who is not too thrilled with the recent talks surrounding his mentor. "Obviously I wouldn't want to lose him," said Porzingis. "He is who he is on our team. He's very special.
Despite being criticized prior to playing his first NBA game, Porzingis is one reason the Knicks have rebuffed critics. For a team that was never given a chance, the Knicks do have a shot of making the postseason wars if they can get their act together.
Achieving that lies on the shoulders of interim head coach Kurt Rambis. He takes over from Derek Fisher, who seemed to be a bit loss on motivating the Knicks moving forward.
The Knicks have 23 games to work on that and Rambis is looking to Anthony to guide the Latvian center.
“Melo has been great with him in terms of encouraging him to grow as a ballplayer to blossom, to trust himself and be confident in what he does," said Rambis on Anthony mentoring Porzingis.
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