A couple days ago Carmelo Anthony officially announced that he would opt-out of his contract at the end of the season and become a free agent. Though he’s reiterated that he wants to remain a Knick for life, he also acknowledged there’s another team in play. Read more after the jump.
On July 1st Carmelo Anthony will become an unrestricted free agent and he wants to experience something he hasn’t had yet in his professional career; teams courting him with the end decision being his own. While there will no doubt be countless teams after the superstar forward, Anthony acknowledged there was one team in particular that challenged Knicks.
via NY Daily News
When asked about the long-held belief that the Lakers would pursue him, Anthony said: “What other team would they say? I don’t think they would say any other team. If you look at situations, that’s the only team that they probably would say.”
The Lakers will have cap space, and Anthony is close to Kobe Bryant. Also, Anthony owns a home in Los Angeles, and his wife, La La, is a working actress in Hollywood. Needless to say, if Anthony leaves the Knicks, it won’t be for a small market team.
While the Lakers hold a significant advantage over the other teams, the Knicks are still in the lead to re-sign Anthony. The Knicks can offer Anthony $33 million more than any other team and he has said countless times he wants to remain in New York.
Still if the Knicks falter this season Anthony will have to do some reevaluating and decide he’s willing to take less money for a better chance at winning an NBA title.
