Two summers ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder made a blockbuster move by acquiring Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks. They Cut ties with him after one season.
This past offseason, the Houston Rockets signed Anthony for the veteran minimum. A high-profile scorer who gets to play with James Harden and his good friend Chris Paul. Coming off the bench (though Anthony has not been a fan, and never has) showed some potential, but Houston looks considerably worse than last season. And so, change is inevitable. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Rockets are preparing to move on from Carmelo Anthony.
The Rockets have denied they are waiving Carmelo Anthony, but two sources close to the situation say Anthony has been informed that his brief time with the team will soon be ending. Anthony has been listed as "out" for Houston's game tonight against Indiana due to illness
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 11, 2018
Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey has denied that Anthony will soon be gone. In meeting with the media, Morey called the singling-out of Anthony as the Rockets’ main issue to the team’s poor start as “unfair.
Rockets GM Daryl Morey: “We’re evaluating everything,” but he says it’s “extremely unfair” that Carmelo Anthony is being singled out.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 11, 2018
Stein went as far to say on November 10th that Anthony may have played his last game as a member of the Rockets, a loss to Oklahoma City. That followed up a tweet Stein made earlier about how Houston has insisted that they are “not letting Melo go”.
On Friday afternoon, Houston announced details of a Carmelo Anthony foundation event scheduled for Wednesday. On Saturday night there are questions circulating leaguewide about whether Thursday’s loss at Oklahoma City was Anthony’s last game as a Rocket https://t.co/Z3usCTa5uW
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 11, 2018
Anthony was out sick for Houston’s latest loss to the San Antonio Spurs. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says that Anthony and the Rockets are in discussions about his role on the team, and looking for a way on how to proceed the rest of the season.
Rockets players and coaches are not expecting Anthony to return to the team, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. He adds that Carmelo did not travel with Houston for their next game against the Denver Nuggets.
11/12 UPDATE: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported late Monday that Carmelo Anthony and his representatives are looking at other teams around the league to join. Wojnarowski adds that there has been no communication between Anthony and the Rockets about a potential return to the team.
It has been a transitionary period for the future Hall of Fame forward, one that has required a significant amount of adaptation. Anthony is averaging 13.4 points on 40.5 percent shooting as a backup power forward. The 13.4 points are a career low, while the shooting percentage is only one-thousandth of a point better than last season – his career low.
So it appears the Carmelo Anthony situation is officially in “wait and see” mode, but it sure seems the two sides are destined to not be together anymore.
