The saga between Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony is far from over. The New York Knicks team president has publicly questioned his star player, eventually stating calmly that both parties would be better off if he were traded. Anthony, meanwhile, has a no-trade clause giving him the opportunity to veto any trade he is featured in.
So while the Knicks want to move on from Anthony, it’s not clear if the feeling is mutual. Perhaps that’s the reasoning behind Jackson’s public declarations. According to NBPA director Michele Roberts, that’s exactly what the Hall of Fame head coach intended to do.
Following via Harvey Araton of the Vertical:
“I think Phil was deliberately trying to shame ‘Melo out of the city,” she told The Vertical.
Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, said she had all but given up on waiting for the league to sanction Jackson – something that she “would have bet my paycheck on” after hearing of his comments two days after the conclusion of another wretched Knicks season.
She had immediately flashed back to September 2015, when Markieff Morris, then with the Suns, was fined $10,000 for tweeting, “My future is not in Phoenix,” after twin brother Marcus was dealt to Detroit. Commissioner Adam Silver’s office decided that was a “public statement detrimental to the NBA.” So when Jackson, speaking to New York’s beat reporters for the first time since September, said, among other things, that Anthony “would be better off somewhere else,” Roberts kept coming up with one answer when she asked herself what was the difference?
It’s hard not to agree with Roberts, though she obviously has extra incentive to protect the players. Jackson’s motives have been pretty obvious, even if he is probably shooting himself in the foot with his actions.
The NBA would never punish the team in that sort of situation, though. That’s just the nature of the league.
